The Well of Udr
by Emerald Viper
Summary: What does The Dowager see in her well? Who does the Green Lady work for? Who is the Emissary? Add one reality engine, lots of Fae, and three epic Solars. Read my stories Alexander The Great, Godchaser, and Shadowsbane first.
1. Chapter 1 - The Factory Cathedral

**I still have the old versions of these stories, but I am uploading the second drafts with formatting and grammar corrections. I am not sure if all of the changes improve the story or not. My reason for updating these old stories is in response to comments and criticism. Also, I have been writing lots of subsequent stories and want to keep the continuity as clean as possible from beginning to end. I really do appreciate critiques and I am sorry about inconsistency with spelling. I really like comments and critique, so please send me more!  
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**It is best to read this story AFTER "Alexander the Great", "Godchaser", and "Shadowsbane". It may also help to have read "Pandora's Box". The events in this story precede "Heaven Sent Sword".  
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**I've been asked for a list of characters several times. Here are the main players:  
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** Cathak Loren/Alexander Faeslayer - **The son of **Dragonlord Cathak Chiron**, now a Dawn Caste Solar. The "boy scout" of the Nexus circle of Solars, Loren is a _good guy _whose compassion often gets him into trouble. His previous incarnation was a survivor of the Primordial War and infamous for drawing a line across the edge of Creation which the fae were forbidden to cross. He wields a Daiklave of Conquest given to him by the Unconquered Sun. **Amira Heartsblood** (Changing Moon Lunar) is his mate and also his Achilles heel (bond of 5). Loren's best friend is **Roach **(a mortal) whom he trained as a soldier.**Roach **has stated before this story begins that his relatives are Murqai - heretic bandits (Cult of the Illuminated), which explains why he has no qualms tagging along after a known Anathema.**  
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**Veritas "Recluse" Ilumio/Perfect Mechanical Soul **- Formerly an exclusive jeweller in the highest Dynastic social circles, Veritas was framed for a crime he didn't commit by **Himitsu **(Chosen of Endings Sidereal). He spent five years in an Immaculate monastery atoning for his sins before **Dragonlord Cathak Chiron** brought him **The Godchaser** (an intelligent, quirky, Sidereal-hunting construct created by his previous incarnation) to repair. Fixing "Godchaser" led to his Exaltation as a Twilight Caste Solar. He is one of the few individuals in Creation well aware of the existence of Sidereals, which makes him look completely crazy by most people's standards. His previous incarnation controlled a massive floating fortress and factory cathedral which is presently buried under a mountain south of Nexus - and it has been implied that around the time of the Usurpation, she may have been plotting to tear Creation in half (and this may well have been within her power). Veritas is romantically involved with **Windswept Rhapsody **(Zenith Caste Solar, traveling bard, and folk hero).

**Sapphire Indari/Stefan Shadowsbane **- The daughter of a God-blooded prostitute and granddaughter of Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants, Sapphire is a former archaeologist turned vigilante. She is a Night Caste Solar and a member of the same Circle as Loren and Veritas. She is close personal friends with **The Emissary**. She has been fighting monsters spreading out of the Wyld in the Firewander District for five years at the time this story begins. In addition to her relationship with the Emissary, Sapphire is also involved with several of Nexus's disreputable characters including **Emerald Viper **(Changing Moon Lunar) who runs the whorehouse, bar, (and hideout for Celestial Exalts) called "Anathema's".

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**Timeline:** Basically, these stories all take place 40 years after The Scarlet Empress vanishes. I've tweaked canon just a little to say that the Solars have only been reappearing since she The Scarlet Empress vanished, with the exception of Windswept Rhapsody. As the reincarnation of Queen Merela, Rhapsody escaped the Jade Prison first, and was the first Solar to reincarnate 126 years ago.

Loren (Alexander the Great) explains that he was born in the year that The Scarlet Empress vanished. Four years later, the Realm (due to a series of complicated events involving Windswept Rhapsody - and Sidereals) actually succeeded in temporarily subjugating the Gens of Lookshy. The Realm did not really conquer Lookshy completely, but the battle was made to look very important in order to help place Dragonlord Cathak Chiron in a better position for the Scarlet Empress's throne. Loren Exalted as a Dawn Caste ten years before "The Well of Udr".

The end of "Alexander the Great" leads directly into Chapter 1 of this story.

Five years before "The Well of Udr", the first events of "Shadowsbane" take place. The end of "Shadowsbane" leads directly into Chapter 6 of this story.

One year before "The Well of Udr", the first events of "Godchaser" take place. The end of "Godchaser" is about three weeks before Chapter 1 of this story. It seems longer for Veritas, however - thanks to Sidereals. (**You know, because we can just blame Sidereals for everything.)

**Thanks for reading, and I PROMISE I will finish "Heaven Sent Sword"!  
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**- Emerald Viper**

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**Chapter 1 – The Factory Cathedral**

By nightfall Amira, Roach, and I had escaped Mnemon Rai's remaining men and were on a road headed toward Nexus. The Winglord certainly could have caught us if he'd tried, but despite the fact that killing a terrible, powerful Anathema would have bolstered his reputation, he gave up pursuit after we entered the forest. Taking no chances, Amira still covered our tracks.

Some hours before dawn, Roach declared that he would not move another step. He hobbled his horse near a little stream and collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Amira decided to make sure that we were not being followed and promised to return before Roach woke. She was gone for several hours. Waiting for her to return, I watched the sun rise. The moon and stars slowly faded from view as the horizon turned a pale lavender color touched with rosy gold. I expected to feel the tug of destiny, something to tell me that I'd chosen the right path, but there was no consolation there for me… just a very pretty morning sky.

It was around that time that I started to feel sick. I'd never been in real trouble before and suddenly I was a wanted fugitive! I'd always thrived in an environment built upon rules. You might laugh to think that I was the sort of child who _always_asked before having a second cookie… but that was how I was. How would I survive with no orders to follow?

There was Amira, of course, but the more I considered how I'd come to know her, the more I began to suspect that her plans for our life together were probably quite different than my own. And as for Roach… if I wasn't certain that I could protect myself from my lover, then what hope was there for him?

I considered running away before Amira returned, but then I scoffed at myself. Amira would surely find me wherever I went, and Roach would literally follow me into Malfeas. There was no sense in hiding and pretending that nothing had happened. I'd singlehandedly cleaved my way through hundreds of goblins and slain a faerie queen. I could leap over tall buildings and easily wield a sword so heavy that a Dragonblooded couldn't lift it. Thousand year old treasures from an age beyond memory came to life with my touch. And as Mnemon Rai had professed, many people seemed inclined to follow me wherever I led, as if I had a sign on my head that said "I am in charge".

In a way, I supposed that I did. I held my sword in one hand and watched my reflection in its golden blade. The mark on my brow was still burning bright, but it no longer terrified me as it once had. I knew that I was not a demon. The battle I had just fought had made that much clear to me.

I had always desired the ability to create a better world even when I had lacked the power to do so. I had always held myself to a standard that others scoffed at. But now… the impossible was possible. _Anything _was possible. For the first time in my life, I would not have the luxury of following orders or deferring to a higher authority. If I used the power I possessed, it would transform all of Creation. And if I made a mistake… well, the thought was positively terrifying!

Over the past ten years I had dwelt continuously on all the things I might have done wrong. I'd become obsessed with understanding why I'd been cursed so terribly. Perhaps I was not spiritually enlightened enough to have been honored by the Dragons, but I could think of no shortcomings that put me in the same company as the mad, murderous Forsaken. But if I wasn't a demon at all, then perhaps I had asked myself the wrong questions all along. If I had been Chosen to bring back the glorious lost world that I remembered so clearly, then what had I done _right_?

_ Heaven __help __me. __I __don't __deserve __this._

"Deep in thought?" Amira teased. She slipped up behind me, making no more sound than a mouse. I suspected she _had _been a mouse, but her shape-changing still unsettled me and so I said nothing of it.

"I'm afraid I can't help it." I admitted. "I have a lot on my mind."

"You're still glowing a little." She kissed the top of my head.

"Am I?" I laughed uneasily. "Should we move further away from the road?"

"Oh, most people wouldn't even notice." Amira replied. "You glitter in the sunlight, that's all. Like some absurd, pining lover in a pretentious bit of court poetry."

"Was that a compliment?" I wondered.

"After a fashion." Amira smirked.

"That's very sweet of you." I replied, in a tone that I suspected she would take offense to.

"I do try." She leaned her head on my shoulder. Her right hand traced the stitched pattern on the leg of my breeches and I noticed for the first time that she was wearing a little orichalcum ring. I touched my own hand reflexively, but of course… there was nothing there. "I never found it." Amira admitted, touching my palm with her fingertips. "I did look."

"It would be strange to wear someone else's wedding ring." I admitted.

"I suppose you're right." She paused. "But sometimes when you look at me… I swear that it's him I'm seeing. You're impossible, you know that, don't you? In the space of one conversation you went from cursing at me and calling me a demon to… _rowr_." The sound she made was definitely not a human one.

"I know, I know!" I cut her off a little more sharply than I'd intended to. "Three days ago I was about to get the promotion of my life! Now I'm a _target_ for the fae, a _traitor_ to the Realm, _dead_ to my family, a _God_ to my best friend and…"

"Playing naughty late-night games with Anathema?" Amira winked.

There was nothing I could say in response to _that_.

"And the worse part is, I still don't know if I'm finally doing what's right or completely destroying all that's left of myself!" I finished, sighing heavily and burying my head in my hands. "Maybe this was all a mistake."

Amira slowly pulled away from me. "A _mistake_?" She demanded.

The pain in her eyes reminded me of the stray dog I'd tried to befriend when I was a child. I'd spent weeks offering the poor creature scraps of food and almost convinced it to take some meat from my hand. But when my cousins saw me trying to feed it, they all started throwing rocks until they chased it off. When my father scolded them for what they had done, they claimed that they were afraid that I might get bitten. I still remembered the look the dog had given me in the moment before it ran away. It hurt so much more than I had ever hurt in my entire life. While it may sound crude to compare an undeniably brilliant, powerful woman to a garbage-eating mutt, I had begun to wonder how much of Amira was really human, and how much was… something else. Like the dog from my childhood memory, she was looking for kindness in a world that had been unimaginably cruel to her… and if I started throwing rocks in her direction, I realized that I would probably never see her again.

That thought cut straight to my heart. When my brother Jaret had first called me "Anathema" the word had burned through me like white-hot fire. How could someone who I cared for so much hate me with such passion? And when I considered Amira leaving forever, such a possibility had seemed equally inconceivable to me. I _didn't _trust her. But for some reason, I loved her anyway.

"Ever since Jaret's death, I've been having these… dreams." I began, slowly trying to work out the words that I wanted to say. "I remember so much of Alexander's life that sometimes I wake up and wonder where I am. Sometimes when you call me Loren, it doesn't even sound like my name. But I still have my own memories. The house I grew up in. My first post. My teachers, my cousins… my father! I feel like I'm trying to be two people at once, two people who can't possibly coexist in the same world, let alone in the same body!" I paused. "Right before I came back to the Scavenger Lands, I spent some time meditating. I thought maybe it would help me separate myself from Alexander… but if anything, it did the opposite. I saw what happened when the Dragonbloods rose up. I was so nervous I almost attacked my cousin." I hesitated for a moment. "Now I can remember the battle like it was yesterday. But I still don't remember you being there."

"I was running late for the Calibration party." Amira paused. "All because of a silly little bit of girlish drama. My dress didn't fit the way that I wanted it to and I couldn't decide if I should change it or change myself. By the time I ran out the door to meet you… Perfect's manse was already on fire. I knew you were in danger, but I didn't know what to do. I'd only taken Heart's Blood five or six times and the Charms I knew were all silly ones, worthless in a real fight." She paused. "The truth is, I was too young, and I was terrified. I convinced myself that you were invincible..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "And I ran away." She whispered.

"I can't imagine you running from anything." I paused, a little uncomfortable, considering what I had just learned. I could tell from the expression on her face that Amira had been torturing herself over her failure for an impossibly long time. How could I express to her that by saving herself, she had done exactly what I would have wished of her? It had been a mercy to die believing that Amira was far away from those who intended to kill her simply because I loved her so much. But I could tell from the expression on her face that she did not feel the same.

"When I heard you were dead… I can't tell you what that did to me. At first I tried to kill myself, but Silvermane caught me. He told me that you would be reborn… and that I needed to be waiting for you, just as you had waited for me. And so I waited. But so many centuries passed and not one Solar ever returned. Silvermane and I escaped into the deep Wyld. It was the only place the Dragonbloods wouldn't follow us. They couldn't survive it." She sighed. "I almost didn't. Half of the oldest Lunars in Creation are completely insane now. The other half are angry and still looking for someone to blame. But the truth is, _we_ failed. If I had…" She trailed off into silence. "If we had been there, not just in the end… but if we had done more, all along…"

"Amira, you didn't know what was happening! You can't hold yourself responsible for not preventing the Usurpation!" I argued.

"I have to! There's no one else to blame!" She replied stiffly. "I used to think that Luna listened to me, but I haven't felt her presence in so long! She's taken away her favor and now these tattoos are all that's holding me together. And I'm not the only Lunar who's almost been lost to the Wyld. People I'd looked up to, idolized even… they became _monsters_. We put them down before they killed us all! We didn't have a choice! And then we had to find a way to save ourselves before it was too late. It's not easy to repair the work of the Incarnae. Could you imagine waking up one day and suddenly being Twilight Caste? I _was_ a Waning Moon! I _was_ something, and now I'm nothing and everything all at once! I could break at any moment, just like the others." She finished, desperation in her voice.

"I don't know what to say." I replied. The words sounded helpless as I spoke them.

"But now that you're with me, things will be different." Amira decided. I was more than a little afraid of her certainty, but I didn't say so.

That was when Roach woke up. He yawned and rolled over onto my foot. "Where to, Boss?" He asked, looking up at me.

"Well, Amira suggested that we should go to Nexus. And then maybe south from there?" I suggested.

"I'm in favor of that plan." Roach replied, slowly rising to his feet. He seemed to have a bit more energy at the sound of those words. I wasn't exactly surprised, considering that Roach had been thinking about one day returning to his homeland for the better part of the last ten years.

"But we do need to stay far away from my family's holdings and the Ravenous Winds. I don't want to be in a position where I might have to hurt some of my own men." I added.

"We should probably follow the river then. Find a small town, trade whatever we've got for passage?" Roach suggested. I glanced in the direction of Roach's pathetic horse. The ill-tempered animal made it possible for him to keep up with the breakneck pace that Amira and I naturally moved at. I wondered if we could survive parting with it.

"I might have a better idea." Amira grinned wickedly. She gave a sharp whistle and the wind whipped up around us. I thought a storm was approaching until I caught sight of a single gray cloud moving towards us at an impossible speed. As it broke through the trees, Amira lept onto it.

"What _is_that?" Roach demanded, staring at Amira poised atop her little cloud.

"A Cirrus Skiff." I replied, recognizing the spell Amira had cast. "Sorcery. You've _never_ seen one?" I glanced at Roach suspiciously.

"I thought only Dragonbloods could do that." Roach admitted.

"Anything they can do, we can do better!" Amira replied in a sing-song voice. "All right, set your horse free and hop on!"

"Oh, I don't think so!" Roach protested.

"Relax!" Amira laughed. "I know exactly what I'm doing!"

"That's the part that worries me." Roach replied.

"Honestly! Loren, have I ever steered you wrong?" She pressed. "Besides, I bet neither of you have ever ridden on a cloud before. It's _really _fun!"

When neither Roach nor myself responded, Amira knew she'd won. "That settles it then! Let's go!"

I very slowly climbed aboard, knowing that Roach would follow suit. The cloud felt cold and soft but somehow solid underneath me. Out of curiosity, I gave it a bit of Essence and blinked in surprise as I realized suddenly that I could actually see the structure of the spell that moved and shaped the cloud. I could feel the energy flowing through it. Did that mean I could work sorcery myself?

It was a reasonable enough assumption, but I'd never considered such a thing before. Even if I had Exalted as a Fire-Aspect, I would have been a soldier. Perhaps I would have served in my father's Scarlets instead of with the Ravenous Winds, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined studying at the Heptagram. I'd always thought of sorcery as a messy and manipulative thing. I'd never considered before that it might be inherently logical, like mathematics or engineering.

It took Roach a long while to undress his horse and muster up the courage to climb aboard Amira's cloud. When we did finally rise up into the sky, I was so shocked I almost fell off. You see, it's one thing to know what's going to happen – it's another thing entirely to prepare yourself for it. The sorcery Amira had worked did not sit well with me. Though I didn't think it right to critique, the entire spell felt vaguely unsteady. Despite her bravado, sorcery was clearly not Amira's forte. Not for the first time, I found myself worrying about her. I gave some more Essence to the Cirrus Skiff, wondering if Amira would notice that I was trying to help. She smirked in my direction and I began to suspect that I was being played yet again.

Roach buried his head in my cloak and looked about ready to faint. I didn't push him away. I remained as stoic as I could, not wanting to give Amira any cause to make fun of me. A few hours later, the cloud we were riding on deposited us on the ground and then dissipated into nothingness. The scenery hadn't changed much... in fact, I rather suspected we were in a different part of the same forest.

"How was _that_ fun?" Roach coughed, obviously glad to be back on his own two feet. "I think I've still got bugs in my teeth and I feel like I've been wrapped in a carpet and beaten with a broom for the last three hours!"

"How very Southern." Amira replied. "Oh, he's cute! Can we keep him?" She demanded, elbowing me with a mischievous wink.

I glared at Amira. She had a tendency to treat Roach as if he were a servant or a pet, just as many of my Dragonblooded relatives did. I'd always hated it when they lorded their status over me. That behavior was not something I planned on picking up. "Where are we?" I asked. Whether I was about to admit it or not, I did feel a little like Roach myself, disoriented and out of my depth.

"Look around." Amira pointed. "See anything familiar?"

I turned slowly in the direction she indicated and stared. Half-sunken into the ground and covered in vines was a solid lump of orichalcum about eight feet square with no visible markings of any kind.

"It's a _box_." I observed, absolutely certain that I'd seen it before.

"This is the secret entrance of a factory cathedral which once belonged to a woman called _Perfect __Mechanical __Soul."_Amira recited. "She was one of the craziest, _scariest_ sorceresses of the First Age, right up there with ol' Bright Shattered Ice. By the time of the Usurpation, Perfect was the last Twilight you'd ever want to tangle with, surrounded by machines and totally obsessed with _controlling _the Wyld. And I feel compelled to tell you this, but my friend Silvermane? He was her Mate. Let's just say I know things about miss "Perfect" that _no __one_ should!"

Roach laughed slightly. He still looked uncomfortable and I didn't blame him. I said nothing about what I remembered. The Perfect that I had known in my life as Alexander was nothing at all like Amira had described her. I would have called her obsessive, perhaps… but not insane. I knew that Solars in the First Age had formed Circles, a kind of sworn brotherhood, and that Perfect and myself had been members of the same Circle. I wondered if the "others" that Madame Marthacine had spoke of were the present incarnations of Alexander's companions. I was sure I'd seen Perfect's work in Nexus, and ever since I'd stumbled upon her water purification machine, I'd felt certain that we would soon be reunited. It was about time.

"All right. So why are we here?" I asked Amira.

"Well." Amira grinned. "_This _box has toys inside!"

I rolled my eyes. "Toys" was Amira's way of describing ancient artifacts of any kind. She was inordinately fond of them and always got excited when her eyes lit upon something from long ago.

"All right, I'll believe that. But I don't see any way in." Still a little uneasy, I reached to touch the smooth golden surface of the box. There was something about orichalcum that I found irresistibly attractive. It beautiful by any standards and very difficult to view as something forged by demon hands.

"Give it some Essence." Amira suggested, sounding impatient.

"Why don't you do it?" I demanded.

"Because I _can't, _numbskull! I shouldn't have to tell you this, but orichalcum only responds to Solar Essence. And Perfect never liked Lunars much, not even her own mate. She considered us to be insufficiently _sophisticated_." Amira rolled her eyes.

"This thing is dangerous?" I pressed. "You think there's a trap, don't you?"

"We won't know until we open it." She replied.

"That sounds a bit reckless, don't you think?" I demanded.

"I'm with Loren on this one, lady." Roach added. "I'm all for staying out of the demon box."

"You're no fun at all." Amira pouted. "Fine, let's start walking to Nexus!"

I sighed heavily and glanced back in the direction of the orichalcum box.

"Boss..." Roach began.

Very deliberately, I placed my hand on the smooth surface. I focused for a moment... I knew instinctively how to fuel Essence into something. I'd done it when Amira had thrown me my sword on the battlefield, when the three of us were riding on Amira's cloud and once, ages ago, when Roach had tossed me that little golden ball.

Standing so close to Amira's "treasure box", I immediately thought of Roach's "killer bug".

_ Or...__Resplendent __Whirlagig? _Had that been one of Perfect's inventions?

I put a mote of Essence into the box. It seemed to respond, and so I gave it more, as much as I guessed it would take. It wasn't until I saw a familiar flickering beginning around my hand that I realized how long I'd been standing where I was, staring at the thing and feeding it my Essence. I pulled away.

"What?" Amira demanded. "What's wrong?"

"I'm... flickering." I couldn't think of a better way to put it, and was a little annoyed when she laughed at me. It felt very strange to touch the mark on my brow when there was Essence bleeding from it. Such a gesture made me even more acutely aware of the fact that I carried a spark inside of me that did not originate anywhere within Creation.

_ Celestial_, I suspected, was the proper word for it. _This __must __be __how __Gods __feel __all __the __time_. I thought to myself, but I said nothing.

Amira groaned, gesturing to the trees all around us. "So?" She demanded.

"Look, whatever you want me to do – it's not working!" I protested, gesturing to the box. "This thing is probably broken!"

"Yeah, and it might explode." Roach quipped.

"You're not helping." Amira snapped.

"Well, what else do you want me to do?" I demanded. "Wave my arms in the air and say "Stupid box, I command you to open!"

There was a sudden crunching, grinding sound behind me. I didn't have to turn around to see what it was.

"That'll do." Amira smirked. Roach stared with his jaw dropped as she bounded past me and disappeared down the dark stairs. After a few minutes, Amira poked her head back out and gestured in the direction of the two of us. "Come on, slowpokes! Don't you want to see what's inside?"

Roach hesitantly followed her when he saw that I was right behind him. The moment I stepped through the door, it closed behind us.

"I want to take this opportunity to remind the both of you that I thought this was a bad idea from the beginning." Roach announced. "So that when we all die horribly, I can at least say "I told you so."

"No one's going to die horribly!" I sighed. Roach turned slowly and stared at me as though I were a stranger. The only light on the stairs was coming from the mark on my brow, and though Roach had known what I was since before our battle with the Red Queen, he still didn't seem entirely comfortable in my presence. "Look, the door closing is probably just some sort of automated thing. There used to be doors like this everywhere." I clarified. "I'm sure Amira knows how to fix it."

"More light, Loren." Amira ordered. I didn't see what she was poking at.

"I... can't _you_?" I demanded.

"Remember what I said about Perfect not liking Lunars much? I'd better not do _anything _unless I absolutely have to. If there is a trap here, it was probably set for Silvermane. Which means it could be activated by my Essence!" Amira replied, as if there was nothing particularly unusual about Perfect attempting to kill her Mate. "What _is_y our problem anyway?"

"You obviously don't understand and I'm not going to explain." I snapped, a little more sharply than I'd intended. "Let's _never _talk about this again."

"Ooh. Soft, squishy feelings hurt?" Amira poked me.

"You're horrible." I informed her, and she beamed as if she'd just been given a compliment. Just as I'd instinctively understood how to fuel Essence into an object, I also knew that I could do other things with it myself. With little more than a moment's concentration, I could know the precise time of day, make a light bright enough to read by... or glow brilliantly enough to momentarily blind anyone standing too close to me. I hadn't tried to do such a thing before, precisely because it was so ostentatious and undeniably Solar-like, but with Amira's nose in my face, I decided to give her _exactly _what she'd asked for. Amira shrieked and almost fell flat onto Roach, who shielded his eyes and stumbled down a few stairs. I walked directly past them both. Even after ten years of being what I was, it still felt odd to me, descending into the darkness without a torch or lantern.

"Yikes, that's _bright!_" Roach grimaced.

"I know! And _so _pretty! See, I knew you could do it!" Amira chirped.

"Are you making fun of me again?" I glared at her.

"You're an easy mark." She retorted, swishing her tail at me.

"Well, it doesn't look like there's much of anything up here." I observed. "Guess we should go down further."

I lost count of how many flights we went down, but it took us more than two hours to reach the bottom of the stairs. I knew without a doubt that I'd come to a place that I had visited before, and felt a little twinge of nervousness. Immediately, I muted the glow around me as much as I could.

"Little more light, Loren." Roach muttered, tripping over the last step.

"No, I'm trying to _stop_ glowing!" I argued.

"Why?" Amira demanded.

"Well, because if there's someone down here, I don't want the first words I hear from them to be "Aaah, _Anathema_!" I protested.

"What makes you think there's someone down here?" Roach wondered uneasily.

"I don't know. I just sense it." I admitted.

Amira snorted. Obviously she knew something herself, but she wasn't exactly being forthcoming with information. The three of us stood before a massive orichalcum door. Like the outer surface of the box, the door was seamless in its construction, appearing like a massive golden mirror set into white marble foundation. It had five symbols on it that I recognized immediately. They were the marks of the five Solar Castes.

"I don't like this." Amira muttered.

"It was your idea to come down here." I reminded her, reaching out and touching the Dawn symbol. The door opened with a whisper.

The room we had entered was enormous and like nothing I had ever seen before, at least not in my current life. The ceiling was as high as the stairs we'd come down and the shadows above us looked like some great birds of prey, roosting undisturbed for so many centuries. I knew what they were immediately... _warbirds_, they were called. There were tools that I didn't know the names of scattered everywhere and in the center of the room was a massive furnace, burning brilliantly and filling the air with the smell of... was that liquid orichalcum?

That was when I heard a faint "click" sound and realized that there was a weapon pointed at the back of my neck. The air was filled with the smell of ozone and I recognized the distinctive crackle of a lightning spear. Mnemon Rai had acquired one some centuries ago and while he never fought with it on the field, he liked to show it off when people asked why he was called "Old Thunderstormer". I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender. Amira growled, looking slightly more wolf-like than usual and Roach went for his sword. I turned around very slowly.

There was a man standing behind me. It wasn't easy to tell how old he was in the strange forge light that filled the room, but I suspected he was somewhat older than I was, perhaps by five or six years. His clothing was disheveled and covered in stains, his short red hair stuck out in every direction and his eyes were hidden by a set of peculiar glasses with several different-colored lenses. The beautiful First Age lightning spear he held was certainly an intimidating-looking weapon, but it was overshadowed by the aura of gold that surrounded him, emanating from a very distinct, unmistakable mark on his brow.

He was a Solar!

"_Anathema_?" The word escaped me before I realized how bad it sounded. After so many years of serving in The Ravenous Winds, I suspected that it was going to be very difficult for me to purge such terms from my vocabulary.

"And _you're_in _my _manse!" He retorted. The Twilight pointed his weapon at Roach, who seemed about to draw his sword. "Don't touch anything!" He warned. "Both of you where I can see you, right now!"

_ Both _of us? He obviously meant Roach and myself. But where was Amira? She'd disappeared without warning.

"Now who got you in here without tripping my alarms? Are you working for those damned Sidereals?" He demanded, using a strange word that was definitely familiar to me. I glanced to Roach who only shrugged. I searched the room with my eyes for some sign of Amira, but she'd disappeared completely.

"Calm down, we don't want any trouble!" I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Yeah, the Boss was just looking for treasure!" Roach winced, realizing belatedly just how bad that sounded.

"Nothing I have would be useful to you, Dragonblood." The Twilight snapped. "Even if you did miraculously become "Enlightened" with advanced knowledge of Wyld Cauldron Technology."

I was still dressed in my lamellar armor and though I lacked good breeding, I wasn't entirely surprised at the Twilight's mistake.

"I don't know. You might be surprised." I smiled slightly and purposefully illuminated my own Caste Mark.

For a moment there was something like a spark of recognition in the Twilight's eyes. He smiled slightly. "Well now..._that _changes everything!" Without a moment's hesitation, he whirled around and shot a burst of energy from his weapon into the ground so close to my foot that I felt the heat through the leather of my boot.

"You almost shot me! Are you _insane_? What was that for?" I demanded.

"I don't like to kill people, generally speaking." The Twilight replied. "But you've just proven to me that you're _not _a Sidereal trying to sneak into my good graces. I've learned that they can impersonate Solars, you see, but it's exceptionally difficult for them and they can't keep up the deception if you startle them."

"But what if I'd moved? You could have killed me!" I protested.

"Please! You're Dawn Caste, aren't you? You're not going to go down unless I shoot you in the head, and even then I'll probably have to do it twice!" The Twilight smirked.

I did not bother to protest. I knew a few things about my own durability. He was not exaggerating. Roach seemed ready to leave, but after being shot at, I wanted some sort of explanation or at very least an apology. From the way I'd seen things in my dreams, I'd started to believe that if the Solars were all returning to Creation, they would at least treat one another with a little respect. "Have you considered that shooting at your visitors is a very good way to convince people that you _are_a mad demon who needs to be put down?" I scolded him.

The Twilight hesitated. He looked a little unsettled for a moment, the expression on his face immediately reminded me of what my Aunt Garel used to call "someone walking over his grave."

That was when I caught sight of Amira. Only her yellow eyes were visible in the light of the furnace. She was in her largest wolf-form, bigger than a horse at the shoulder with a thick mane of moonsilver spines covering her shoulders and back. Her tattoos glowed, making her look exactly like what I had once believed that all Lunars were... what Amira had admitted that she feared she was becoming.

_A __monster._

The Twilight dropped his lightning spear and cursed incoherently as Amira flicked her tail across his shoulder, giving away her location. He almost fell over when he did see her, grinning toothily at him. "You shot at my Mate. I should rip your head off your shoulders." She whispered, the tone of her voice making it very obvious that she would be willing to carry through with her threat.

"_Your_ Lunar?" The Twilight glanced nervously over his shoulder in my direction.

Amira chuckled.

"All right, who are you? What do you want with me?" The Twilight demanded, not sounding nearly as sure of himself as he had before.

"My name is Cathak Loren." I replied automatically, before I realized that I probably should have used an alias.

I definitely noticed the Twilight's reaction to my name. He'd heard of me before?

"I'm Roach." Roach added, jerking his thumb in my direction. "I'm with him."

"They call me Heartsblood." Amira grpwled. The Twilight paled. Of course, he was pale already, probably from spending so much time in his cavern of a workshop, but his skin lost the little color that it had possessed. Amira held her teeth bared only a few inches away from his neck until he was obviously sweating. For a few minutes I wasn't entirely sure what she planned to do with him myself. Even though he'd already shot at me, I felt that letting Amira kill the first Solar I'd ever met was probably a bad way to start my new life. "Boo!" Amira shouted.

The Twilight jumped a foot in the air and Amira began giggling uncontrollably. Somewhere in the middle of her fit, she changed back to her human self, still rolling on the floor like a hyperactive child who'd just consumed enough sugar to bake a dozen cakes. I sighed in defeat, knowing I should have expected as much. Though I did not doubt that Amira was capable of cruelty, she had a mischievous streak a mile wide. "You started this!" I informed him. "I certainly had no intention of making trouble for you and you attacked me before I had the opportunity to tell you why we came to this place!"

"Save it. I already know why you're here!" He snorted. "Sidereals, Lunars, Dragonbloods... it's always the same story! Why go through the trouble of making something when you can steal it instead? Go ahead, take whatever you want!" The Twilight dismissed us.

"I told you already, we're _not_ here to rob you. What's your name?" I asked.

"I don't see how that matters." He retorted.

"Well, what I _want_ is information!" I paused. "Where are you from? How long have you been a Solar? Do you remember things about the First Age?" Questions simply poured out of me. If it wasn't for Roach's blank stare, I probably wouldn't have stopped talking until I was blue in the face.

"You're certainly nosy." The Twilight snorted. He seemed to have relaxed somewhat, but he still evaluated me with a suspicious glare.

"I can't help it. This is all new to me." I admitted.

"Ah." The Twilight observed. "Just Exalted, eh?"

"Oh yes, _ten __years __ago!_" Amira rolled her eyes.

"What?" The Twilight blinked in disbelief. "Ten years? You've been Exalted for _ten __years_ and they haven't caught you yet?"

"You mean… the Wyld Hunt?"

"The Wyld Hunt? Oh, if it were just the Ravenous Winds, things would be _easy_!" He threw his hands up in the air. "But no… I'm talking about the gods-damned Bureau of Destiny!"

"The Bureau of _what_?" Roach asked.

The Twilight sighed heavily. "Sit down. You're going to want to sit down for this."

I did as he recommended. Amira and Roach stood behind me. Neither of them looked impressed, but I gathered that was because Roach had absolutely no idea what was going on and Amira already knew everything but had neglected to warn us about any of it. I could not take my eyes off of the Twilight. The longer he ranted, the more certain I became that I had known him in my previous life.

"I don't know if you've heard this already or not, but we Solar Exalted are the rightful rulers of Creation. It was given to us by the Gods, which is why you will find in all the oldest texts that Solars are referred to as "Lawgivers". It's why our government was called _The __Deliberative_. The Dragonblooded were bred to be our soldiers, to fight in our armies against the enemies of Creation. But they rose up against us and destroyed everything that we had built." The Twilight paused.

"Why?" I wondered, an uneasy feeling in my stomach as he spoke those words.

"All the usual reasons! We were corrupt, they were oppressed!" The Twilight continued. "It's irrelevant now. What is important is that with the help of certain ambitious Sidereals, the Dragonblooded conspired to kill us all and hold our Essence in something they called the Jade Prison. This is why, for many hundreds of years there _were _no Solars. But about fifty years ago, the prison was discovered to be cracked. The Sidereals themselves don't even know when exactly it happened or who did it. The point is, our souls were free to return to the cycle of reincarnation and now we're all coming back. And while most of the other Solars that I've met so far still think that the Realm is our biggest threat, that's only because they've no idea how dangerous Sidereals can be. They're everywhere, and they watch us constantly."

"How can you tell if you're being watched?" I asked. I didn't like what he was proposing at all, but it felt true to me.

"Well, it's _almost _impossible." The Twilight replied. "Sidereals can look like anyone, you see. They might be some insignificant person following you all day, trying to sell you trash or trinkets. The bartender at your favorite tavern. Your lover. Your lackey." He gestured to Roach. "The only way to be safe is not to trust _anyone. _Or you can submit everyone you meet to a very invasive, sophisticated Essence scan. Sidereals really _hate _that." He added, as if he were an authority on the subject.

"Wow. You're sure paranoid." Roach observed.

"Feh." The Twilight snorted. "Just because _you're_ not doesn't mean _they_ aren't out to get you! But I am curious. If you're from the Imperial City, what are you doing way out here in the Scavenger Lands?" He asked. "Are you on the run?"

"It's complicated." I admitted. "Ten years ago my brother and I went to investigate some Fae attacks on mines that our House has a stake in. I tried to save my brother from the fair folk and then… he ran his daiklave through my gut." I gestured to my scar like any soldier would. It was good form to show off an old war wound. "Of course, I didn't understand what had happened to me, not at first."

The Twilight nodded. He didn't seem precisely sympathetic, but he had calmed down quite a bit and put down his weapon. He sat very casually in an enormous ornate chair across from me and folded his hands under his chin in a distinctly condescending fashion, as if he believed that he was far more intelligent than anyone in his presence would ever live to be. I was absolutely certain that I knew him then. He _was _Perfect!

"I was supposed to return to the Blessed Isle, and so I went. I tried to pretend that nothing had happened, but I kept having these… dreams." I paused.

"Dreams?" The Twilight frowned.

"Dreams of the First Age." I clarified, gesturing to Amira. "I remember so much now that sometimes I expect to wake up in Meru! Or Luth or Calypsis… all places that don't exist any more! I started teaching myself things that I used to know. I spent a lot of time meditating at my father's hunting lodge. I thought that would keep me from going completely mad. If I hadn't been sent back here and met up with Amira… maybe would have entered a monastery. Aunt Garel always said that I should have been an Immaculate."

The Twilight shrugged. "I don't have any real problems with the Immaculate Order, except of course... that they're completely manipulated by Sidereals."

"Were _you_ a monk?" I asked. He didn't answer me, but the expression on his face led me to believe that the answer to my question was "yes".

"Well, I _was_ a soldier. But after yesterday, I've got most of my former Wing coming after me." I admitted. "And when Mnemon Rai gets back to Nexus, there'll be a full-fledged Wyld Hunt. Not to mention those fae."

"You're in trouble with the fae?" The Twilight raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"Let's just say we killed a lot of them." Amira replied. "Including the Alabaster Duchess."

"_How_?" The Twilight pressed, seeming to recognize that name.

"Well, I've got to admit, having _this_ does help." I tapped the hilt of my daiklave. It was still wrapped in canvas and must have looked a little silly strapped to my back, but I felt a lot safer having it within my reach.

"Hm. An artifact?" The Twilight observed. "It must be, or you wouldn't bother hiding it. May I?

I set the blade before me and slowly unwrapped it. In the red light of the plasma furnace, the orichalcum glittered even more brilliantly than it had in the sun. The Twilight immediately took a step back.

He cursed aloud in Old Realm, using a word I didn't remember the meaning of... and then he smiled. "I thought so. You're Faeslayer?"

"I… well, I guess I was." I admitted. "And I sort of… _am_. That's what I was trying to explain about my dreams."

"And you actually _remember _the First Age? As if you were there?" He pressed.

"Yes, I do. I don't know _why_ or _how_, but I do." I felt an odd, unfamiliar little prickling as I spoke those words. Amira growled and the Twilight turned to her with a very condescending expression.

"You're telling the truth." The Twilight observed. The way he spoke made it very obvious that he was not asking a question, that he'd used some kind of Charm on me to determine my motivations. "But if _you _are Alexander, that means that you… why, you're part of _my _Circle!"

Of course, that word "Circle" was something I knew very well from my dreams, and it did not sit easily with me. The Twilight's demeanor completely changed in that instant. A moment ago he'd been shooting at me… and then suddenly he brought me a chair. In fairness, what he actually did was snap his fingers and command a chair to move in Old Realm. It came trotting up behind me and I slowly sat with some trepidation.

He was a sorcerer_. Of course.  
_

"Alexander?" A familiar voice wondered. It sounded like a young woman and I wondered for a moment if the Twilight had an assistant or a lover hiding somewhere nearby.

"I suppose you might as well come out now, Godchaser." The Twilight sighed. "They're not here to kidnap you." From behind the plasma furnace a white cloak emerged, a limbless phantom with tendrils of moonsilver and orichalcum and an ivory mask for a face. It took me a moment to realize that I was looking... not a person, but an extremely sophisticated construct, of the kind that had been rare even in the glory days of the Deliberative. Roach nearly went for his sword and Amira blinked in disbelief.

"Oh Luna's blessed tits! Godchaser?" She exclaimed. "You old tin can! You're _still _running?"

"Ugh. I thought I smelled wet dog." The construct snorted, sounding extremely put-off.

"We know her?" The Twilight asked his unusual companion.

"Unfortunately." The construct replied.

"What's going on here?" I demanded.

"As you must already know, your previous incarnation was called Alexander Faeslayer. But it's a bit more complicated than that. The spark that makes you a Solar still _is _Alexander." The Twilight paused. "Just as I still _am _Perfect. There were only seven Solars who survived the Primordial War. Merela and her Circlemates, with the exception of Desus and Contentious Sword. Tess, Caspian... and the two of us. The Unconquered Sun _personally _handed Creation over to Merela and gave _you_ the responsibility of defending it until our brethren were reborn. " He finished. "We _built _the Deliberative! To say _nothing _of the Three Circles Society!" He said those words as if they were ones I should know and I had to admit that they did feel very familiar to me. Amira already looked annoyed, but it was obvious that the Twilight was not nearly finished talking. "I wish that I could remember the past the way that you do, but most of what I know has come from these old books." He gestured up, and I stared in disbelief at the impossible size of the library which loomed over our heads. "The life I had must have been _much_better than the one I'm living now."

"Don't bet on it." Amira snorted.

"You'd rather be a woman?" Roach observed, smirking slightly.

"That's irrelevant! We're hunted, you idiot! Everyone thinks we're demons! Do you realize that we _bred_ the Dragonblooded? Like livestock! They were meant to be slaves and cannon fodder!" The Twilight threw his hands in the air. "It's an absolute travesty what's been done to us! History has been completely rewritten! Our whole legacy has been destroyed! Doesn't that infuriate you?"

"My Maker has had a very difficult day-week-month-year-day." The construct quipped, hovering over The Twilight's shoulder. She looked down at him with an expression of concern.

"That's an interesting measure of time." Roach observed.

"It's all thanks to those Sidereals!" The Twilight snorted. "I'm beginning to understand why Silvermane thinks _they _should have been put in the Jade Prison instead of _us_!"

"You ought to set them on fire next time!" The construct chimed in, obviously trying to be supportive.

"Oh, _I __will_!" He replied with an expression I knew too well.

"Watch who you bite, _Recluse_." I replied, speaking in Old Realm. I'd learned the language from my dreams of the First Age but had never had any real cause to speak it before. Even Amira looked surprised, but it seemed appropriate to call the Twilight by his predecessor's infamous nickname. As the Dawn Caste were commonly called "Bronze Tigers" for their battle prowess, the Twilight Caste bore the sobriquet "Copper Spiders" for their artistry and industriousness. Perfect herself had been a very particular kind of arachnid, a normally solitary but extremely venomous one.

My Circlemate grinned very broadly. "Nonsense! I've been _provoked!_" He informed me, switching to Old Realm himself.

"Oh dear." Amira observed. "It's going to be just like old times, isn't it?"

"So you really actually know this guy, Boss?" Roach demanded.

Recluse ignored him as if he were not even in the room, let alone sitting between the two of us. "Start at the beginning, Faeslayer. What do you remember?" He pressed.

"Battles, mostly." I sighed heavily. "In my dreams I spent a lot of time doing things that I'm not sure I understand. And yet some things are perfectly clear. I recognized Amira the moment we met. And now that you and I have been talking, I can picture what you used to look like." I admitted. "Apart from the physical, I don't think you've changed very much at all."

"Nor have you." Recluse nodded, smiling just slightly. "So tell me, Faeslayer… do you remember hearing about something called a protoscemaic vortex?"

"A _what?_" I blinked at him in confusion.

"Hm. That was… a rather personal project of mine"." He observed. "What about a woman who calls herself "The Green Lady"? Does that ring any bells? I suspect that she would have appeared towards the end of things, what with how she and Himitsu are responsible for most of this mess."

"If it's the Usurpation you're interested in, you should be bartering with me. I _was_ there." Amira interrupted us.

"Maybe so. But as I see it, you're one of two things… either the real Heartsblood _or _a Sidereal powerful enough to pretend to be a Lunar. In either case, I don't trust you. At _all."_Recluse snapped. "If you _are _Heartsblood you were _maybe_ fifty years old at the time of the Usurpation! You couldn't have been much older that. You were a _child_, a non-entity! You must know that you only survived because _you __weren't __a __threat._ Faeslayer _was_. Like myself… his name was on the top of the killing list."

I was a little shocked to hear such a thing. In all my dreams of the First Age, I'd never gotten the impression that anyone should have wanted me dead. "Recluse, that's _enough_! There's a lot that I don't remember and you've already admitted that you know less than I do! So let's put this all behind us for now and focus on the problem at hand!"

"Which is?" Recluse pressed.

"We have two armies chasing us. If you can get us to Nexus very quickly, I can get us the help we need. I have friends in town." Amira explained. "And while I _could _exhaust myself expending all of my Essence to take us there with sorcery, I would prefer to be in fighting condition when we arrive. That's why I'm willing to make you a deal. If you can get us to Nexus ahead of Mnemon Rai, you can pick Loren's brain as much as you want and I won't butt in. You can also ask me _anything_ and I swear I won't use a single Charm."

"Well, I _could_ get you to Nexus in less than an hour, but that would mean taking one of the warbirds. And they still need work!" Recluse protested.

"You haven't fixed one of them yet?" Amira demanded with her hands on her hips. "Are you _sure _you're Perfect?"

"I haven't been down here very long. Only a few weeks if you want the truth." Recluse paused. "Though with the way F_ate_ has been all mangled around me by those meddling Sidereals, it's beginning to feel like much longer than that." He sighed in defeat and gestured to a warbird a little below the others. Its exterior was well-polished and more than a few tools were resting on the rigging just below its berth. "We'll take that one."

Roach looked skeptical. "It's an airship, then? And you know how to fly it?"

"Well, I haven't done it in a long time, but I'm sure it's like riding a bike." Amira admitted.

"What's a _bike_?" Roach frowned.

"First things first! We need to talk before we decide on our next move. And I understand that you think you're in a hurry, Faeslayer, but no Dragonbloods are getting in here! They can't use their Essence to come in the way you did, and every other door is welded shut. Not to mention the traps. And Godchaser?" Recluse turned to his construct.

"Yes, Maker?" The construct quipped.

"If any Sidereals should be poking around with that Wyld Hunt that, you have my permission to paradox them!" He informed it. "All the way back to Yu-Shan if necessary!"

"Will do, Maker!" The construct agreed. Humming cheerfully, it hovered off.

Not sure of where to begin, I told Recluse about my brother's death and how I'd Exalted, explaining how my first few dreams had led me to Amira. When I got to the dreams of the Usurpation that I'd had while training myself at my father's hunting lodge, he seemed particularly interested. "I had to find something more challenging. It wasn't _enough_, just reading about things! I needed to be _doing _something. Intense focus! Precision! Nobody would play Gateway with me after I beat Ledaal Kes." I explained.

"Hm. You should take up sorcery." Recluse remarked.

"I don't think so." I shook my head, though I immediately thought of Amira's shoddy Cirrus Skiff. "I already have a difficult time keeping my focus on the present."

"Feh! If you're a good Gateway player, then you've got an eye for patterns. And if you're the military strategist that I _know_ you are, you can think quickly on your feet." He laughed.

"What does any of that have to do with sorcery?" I demanded.

"_Everything_. The Dragonblooded don't understand it, they _never_ have!" Recluse rolled his eyes. "Sorcery isn't supposed to be convoluted and messy! It's more of a science or _mathematics_."

I blinked in surprise. That had been my thought exactly!

"Spoken like a Devonian." Amira gave a wry smile.

"Guilty as charged." Recluse smirked.

It occurred to me belatedly that there was a reason why Perfect and Alexander had often called each other by the nicknames "Recluse" and "Faeslayer". They, _we_… had been members of a certain exclusive "club". The term _Devonian_ fixed itself in my mind. I immediately associated it with myself, as easily as I might have claimed the name "Cathak". But what did _I_ remember about sorcery? Less than nothing!

"Sorcery is _ruthless_, Faeslayer. Those Emerald Circle Spells you've probably seen your Lunar playing with are _nothing _compared to what you and I were once capable of." Recluse paused. "The first spell I ever cast was every bit as terrifying as it was liberating. Now, well... I'm beginning to understand why there are three Circles of Sorcery." He paused. "Emerald Circle Spells are like the first forms you learn when you're studying a martial art. They're good for building your foundations, and they're excellent for practice… but after a while _they're __just __not __hard __enough_."

"I know what you mean." I nodded, absorbing that little bit of information that was nothing like I had ever believed. I had never thought to associate sorcery with martial arts, and when I did think of it that way, I found that the concept itself no longer made me feel sick as it once had. "I spent years training at Paisap's Stair. I studied Water Dragon and Tiger and bits of anything else someone would teach me. I made two of the Dragonblooded in one of my lessons look like idiot children without even thinking about the consequences. It was so easy for me to learn the techniques that I couldn't understand how anyone would struggle with them."

"Heh. I studied Snake myself. You know, I'm beginning to think that I was wrong about you." Recluse admitted. "You're not quite the ham-fisted sword bunny I expected you would be."

"Is that a backwards compliment?" I frowned.

"Take it for what it is. An invitation for you to come back and talk some more. I'll even open the door for you. The warbird's ready to fly. I had her charged up for when those Sidereals came back. They've been trying to sneak in all week. I'm sure they want to know what I'm working on." He laughed.

"And what are you working on, Recluse?" I pressed.

He gave another wry smile. "Wouldn't _you_ like to know? I am sorry that I shot at you earlier. It's just been a very difficult..." He hesitated. "Day." He decided on that measure of time. "And as I believe I've already explained, I simply don't trust _anyone _presently. Can't be too careful with all of the Sidereals around here."

He still did not bother to explain what Sidereals were and I decided not to admit that I didn't know. Amira shoved Roach through the hatch of the warbird. She put both of her hands on the hearthstone in the console and the airship roared to life, shaking the whole laboratory. I hopped into the seat closest to Amira. Recluse watched us with a look of grim satisfaction on his face, as if he would not admit that it greatly pleased him to see one of his machines taking to the sky.

"Wait, Recluse! What's your _name_? You know, in the _present_?" I shouted down.

He smiled slightly. He glanced around his laboratory, seized a bag off of the nearest table and then effortless leapt up to join the three of us inside of the warbird.

"Wait for me, Maker!" His construct, which apparently had not flown very far away came zooming after him with an incoherent, gleeful squeak. It hovered over his shoulder and watched me with an expression that made me very nervous.

"Well, I don't suspect that you'll be using my _name_, Faeslayer. No more than I am inclined to use yours." Recluse replied. "But your pets can call me Veritas." He pushed Amira out of the pilot's seat. She pouted.

I can't describe the feeling that came over me as we rose into the sky. Flying in the warbird was far more satisfying than being dragged aboard Amira's awkward Cirrus Skiff. When Veritas finally agreed to give the airship a proper test, even Roach threw his hands in the air and cheered. I remained somewhat more composed, but I did smile the entire time despite myself. Perhaps it was the sheer impossibility of such flight that made me feel so liberated, or perhaps it was only the warmth that I felt with Amira resting her head on my shoulder and Veritas sitting across from me glowing only faintly, his Caste Mark mirroring the design of the ostentatious hearthstone circlet that he wore. As with Amira, I'd only just met him and I already felt certain that we would be fast friends. Tempting as it was to give into such comforts, I was also worried.

I'd learned more than a few things from my dreams about the way Creation had once been, and the longer that I spent surrounded by people who genuinely believed that Solars weren't monsters, the easier it became for me to forget the one thing that I knew to be true. It had taken me a long while to accept that being Anathema did not make me inherently evil – and not only because I'd believed in the teachings of the Immaculates since childhood. I remembered the First Age as I'd lived it, both the good and the bad. With great power came great consequences, and if someone with the gifts that we possessed did not tread lightly...

I watched Veritas. The way his hands gracefully and swiftly moved across the console of his warbird made him look very much like his predecessor.

Of course, when Perfect Mechanical Soul had worked with such focus centuries ago, she hadn't been attempting to pilot a little airship.

She'd been preparing to tear Creation in half.


	2. Chapter 2 - Lying Low

**Chapter 2 – Lying Low**

It was early evening when we arrived in Nexus. We landed on a little hill not far from the road and before anyone could catch sight of our unusual mode of transportation, Veritas grudgingly agreed to let Amira cast a spell on his warbird. He watched her preparations critically and I did not doubt that he would soon attempt to work the sorcery she used so flippantly with greater precision and care. Veritas grumbled about not remembering all the spells he "needed" and almost marched straight for the gates of Nexus until Roach reminded him that he should probably take off his ostentatious hearthstone circlet. He grudgingly tucked it into an invisible pocket sewn onto his construct, which he'd donned in the form of a cloak.

"Godchaser" giggled.

It was somewhat unsettling to see how easily the construct assumed the role of an inanimate article of clothing. No one who saw Veritas would have suspected that he was wearing an ancient, living artifact. Nor would they guess that his lightning spear, which he treated like a walking stick, packed enough punch to level a building.

Roach eyed Veritas's treasures greedily, despite the fact that we'd already explained to him that only Solars could use artifacts made of orichalcum, just as only Dragonblooded could effectively wield magical jade. As a point of comparison, I gave him my daiklave, which took him right off of his feet and face-first into the dirt.

"No wonder you were breaking so many swords!" He cursed, shaking out his hands. "That's heavy!"

Amira casually twirled her "stupid stick" and smirked. She was even more painfully obvious than Veritas was, still dressed in her silver "armor", her hearthstone circlet, and absolutely nothing else. Of course, she could easily change herself into a bird or a stray dog and no one would give her a second glance.

"Well, there's Nexus! But how do we intend to get in?" Veritas pressed. "I count at least two dozen Immaculates on the road down there. They're stopping everyone and searching them before they enter the city."

"Makes sense. The Immaculate Order doesn't have a whole lot of authority inside the city." Amira informed him. "Once someone's gotten into Nexus, you can't find drag them out with a fine-toothed comb. The city is a four-thousand year old rabbit warren, and there's no place in Creation more corrupt. Thousands of places to hide, and plenty of people who will do anything for the right price."

"True." Veritas nodded. "But that doesn't change our current situation. Any ideas, Faeslayer?" He asked.

"I'm _thinking._" I said.

"Heh. I got it!" Roach cut me off. "Stay here! I'll be right back!"

"Where's he going?" Veritas wondered, watching Roach as he ran off.

Amira squinted. "It looks like there are some Southerners down by the road right below us. He's talking to them."

Veritas began reciting some familiar-sounding words and I realized that he was invoking yet another Charm. He listened to the conversation between Roach and the Southerners from more than five-hundred feet away and as they continued speaking, a shocked expression began to emerge on his face. He didn't say anything, and fifteen minutes later Roach came galloping back.

"All right, we're in!" He exclaimed breathlessly.

Amira raised an eyebrow in his direction. "How?"

Roach grinned. "There are someMurqai coming up the road right now. My relatives." He added. "Well, I've actually never met these guys before, but my mother was Murqai. So we're family. It's like that in the South." The looks that Amira and Veritas shot in his direction suggested that they didn't know what he was talking about, but I smiled slightly.

Since he'd discovered my secret, Roach had been forthcoming with some information himself, namely, that he'd never really "converted" to the teachings of the Immaculates as everyone in the Imperial Army was supposed to. He'd held fast to his mother's faith and called himself "a believer", which meant that he considered himself to be a follower of The Unconquered Sun. Though I no longer believed that I was one of the damned, I didn't share Roach's unshakable convictions. I wondered, and not for the first time, over my own relationship with the God who had Chosen me. In my past life as Alexander, I sensed that there had been very little distance between us… and now there seemed to be far too much.

"And if there's one thing all Murqai _hate_, it's the Immaculate Order. So I give my cousins the opportunity to compose a bragging song about sneaking a Solar through a blockade of unbelievers… " Roach continued.

"You _told __them_?" I sputtered.

"I see. Nice work." Veritas smirked.

Roach bowed dramatically. One of the Murqai caravan wagons turned off of the main road and began coming uphill towards us. When the old warrior who guided the wagon came close enough to recognize Roach, he reined his horse and dismounted, rattling off something in Murqai. I knew a bit of the language myself, but I couldn't translate what he had said.

Though he hadn't had cause to use his native language in years, Roach responded without hesitation. Two other warriors rode up to flank the older warrior and the young Murqai woman who was driving the wagon watched Veritas, Amira, and myself suspiciously.

"You call for our assistance?" The old warrior asked all of us at once, speaking in heavily accented Rivertongue.

Veritas nodded.

"Our cousin has told us that one of you is Illuminated." The old warrior explained, surveying Veritas, Amira, and myself. "If that is so, then the Unconquered Sun wills that we aid you to the best of our ability."

Belatedly, I realized why Veritas had been pleased with Roach. He'd told the Murqai that he was helping _one_ Exalt – not _three_. If the weren't who we thought they were, or if they decided to do anything sneaky, we'd certainly have the upper hand.

"You will forgive us, of course, if we hesitate to believe such a claim. There are many who would test our conviction. They would call us like the Storm Mothers call fishermen to the rocks in the West, and then condemn us for what they call heresy." The young woman added.

"We understand completely." Veritas nodded. "And we're not trying to trick you. We do need your help." He met the gaze of the old warrior. "My name is Veritas Ilumio." He flared his Caste Mark. "Chosen of the Unconquered Sun. Exalted of the Twilight Caste."

The Murqai all dropped to their knees and offered up a colorful variety of praise in their native tongue. I slowly turned to Roach, who only smiled and bowed dramatically. Staring at Veritas myself, I had to admit that I was impressed. He introduced himself very gracefully and said the words "Twilight Caste" as easily as a Dynast might have said "Prince of the Earth". I doubted I would ever be comfortable hearing little Gods address me as "Lord of Creation" and could not imagine introducing myself as Veritas just had. A few days ago, I'd barely been able to say the word "Solar".

"It is an honor to be of service to you, Sun-Chosen." The old warrior replied. "I am Salakhin, of the Alhaman Murqai. These are my nephews, Amal and Fariq. And my daughter, Hafizah."

Salakhin's eyes widened in shock as he noticed me. I'd thought it would be extremely difficult for me to upstage Veritas, especially since he'd just revealed himself to be a Solar – but apparently not.

"No!" He exclaimed. "You are Cathak Loren?"

"I..." I'd been about to say that I wasn't who they thought, but then I stopped myself. The Murqai were helping us get into Nexus specifically because we _were _Solars. It seemed silly to pretend to be anything else. "How did you know my name?" I wondered uneasily.

Veritas observed my mortified reaction with amusement.

"A man over six feet tall, dressed as a soldier in the uniform of the Ravenous Winds. He carries himself with great authority. Could be mistaken for a Prince of the Earth, a Fire-Aspect, but for his fair hair and blue eyes." Salakhin explained. "My kinsmen and I hear many things in our travels. A mere mortal come to the rank of Talonlord did catch our attention. But this is _most _unexpected! I would have called you foe once. It pleases me to see a sword such as yours serving a better master."

"He's not my master." I replied flatly, annoyed by Veritas's smug smirk.

In the past, I'd always felt that I didn't get enough credit for the work that I did. Now I was beginning to be a little afraid of my own reputation. The fact that a complete stranger recognized me on sight was a little worrying. More worrying still was the fact that the Murqai didn't seem to know that I was a Solar – which meant that the Immaculates at the gates of Nexus didn't know that either.

In the two days since our battle with the Fae, Mnemon Rai had clearly sent a message ahead to Nexus, but for some reason he had neglected to mention that the last time he'd seen me, I'd burned so much Essence that there could be absolutely no mistaking what I was. Clearly, he wanted me captured but not killed. I couldn't imagine why... and I shuddered to think of what trouble Old Thunderstormer might be getting himself into if anyone ever discovered that he'd _allowed _an Anathema to escape him. How he was going to convince every soldier in the Winds to stay quiet was something I couldn't fathom.

"Now, Sun-Chosen, I understand why you need our help. The monks at the gate are looking for this man." Salakhin informed Veritas, gesturing to me. "You can trust us. We serve the same master."

"He's not my master!" I repeated, certain that they meant Veritas. He was still smirking at me in a particularly condescending manner and I could hear his construct whispering something in his ear.

"Loren!" Amira scolded. "Just play along!"

"Amira, I am carrying my daiklave strapped to my back." I informed her.

"Oh." She paused. "Right."

It had taken me a few moments to realize the problem with Roach's ruse, but when I did see it, I couldn't very well ignore it. My daiklave was wrapped up in a sheet, but such a weapon still looked awfully suspicious. Worse still, I didn't have the slightest idea how we planned to hide it. Realistically, I should have left it in the warbird, but I felt naked without a weapon on hand.

I didn't have another sword, and as I'd discovered many times, nothing less than orichalcum would hold up to my strength. More importantly, my daiklave had been a gift from the Unconquered Sun, the one tangible thing that I possessed that reminded me, every time I drew it, that was Chosen and not damned. I _needed_ it.

I drew my blade. The weight of the orichalcum made a fairly significant 'thunk' sound as I set it beside me. When the tip of the sword was in the ground, the pommel stone reached to the height of my chin. The sheet came away slightly and light struck the blood red hearthstone on the guard. I could feel the Essence radiating out from it, as warm and brilliant as the morning sun.

The Murqai all bowed in my direction and I immediately wished that I hadn't drawn such attention to myself.

"The Immaculates on the road did not mention that you were one of the Illuminated, only a deserter believed to have dangerous information at his disposal." Salakhin explained. "Forgive us for not showing you proper deference, Sword-of-Heaven." He paused.

I knew the sobriquet, of course. Salakhin had already guessed my Caste.

"There is something that I must ask, if I may. The forest last night was full of whispers. Are you truly the same Lawgiver who drew his sword across every edge of Creation and made the boundary that the Wyld must respect? The Great Faeslayer?" He pressed.

I said nothing, but apparently I didn't need to. The Murqai all grinned very broadly. Apparently the "bragging song" that Roach had promised them the opportunity to compose was shaping up to be a very good one.

"We shouldn't keep wasting time." Veritas decided. "Let's get this over with before one of those monks decides to see what's going on up here."

The young woman opened the door to the caravan wagon and gestured for me to look inside.

"All right, let's see what we've got to work with!" Amira clapped her hands together and shoved me out of her way, digging through the Murqai's wagon. What was inside was more or less what I'd come to expect from southerners… gems, silks, spices and lots of overly dried provisions that looked and smelled like old shoes.

"Ahah!" Amira exclaimed. "Okay Loren! Into the wagon and off with the armor!" Amira grabbed me by my gorget.

"I might need that!" I protested as the leather strap snapped in two.

"No, you won't. I'll make you something better!" She informed me.

"Fine!" I sighed, unfastening my spauldrons. Though I knew that I couldn't very well walk through the gates of Nexus wearing my lamellar, I was little annoyed that Amira intended to throw it away. "But what about my daiklave?" I demanded. "And Recluse… where is your weapon?"

"What weapon?" Veritas smirked, holding up his hands to show that they were empty.

"He puts it in Elsewhere." Amira observed. "Must have learned that trick from a Lunar."

"Elsewhere?" Roach wondered.

"It's a space that exists just outside of our own, a mutable plane of magical energies. Most people don't even know it exists, but Celestial Exalts can access it." Veritas explained. "Any artifact that we have attuned to our Essence… we can call it to ourselves. In the simplest sense, it's like this."

With a deft flick of his wrist, Veritas snatched one of his Resplendent Whirlagigs from Roach, who was showing the device to the leader of the Murqai. I could only guess that he'd pocketed it when we'd left Veritas's manse.

"No! No playing with things you _don't _understand!" Veritas informed Roach. With another graceful gesture, he tossed the little orichalcum ball into the air – and it promptly vanished.

Roach grinned. The Murqai seemed equally impressed.

"Now, Faeslayer... do as I do." Veritas paused and made the first gesture of the Charm so that I could watch and copy him.

Drawing myself away from the Winds had been a challenge. Only two days ago, I'd decided that I was too strong to continue pretending to be an ordinary soldier. When I'd cleaved the Alabaster Duchess in two, the Fae had fled in terror. Convinced that I was dangerous, I'd never stopped to consider just how much I didn't know. Not all of my memories of the First Age translated themselves into combat skills that I could instinctively duplicate. Sitting with Veritas and attempting to work a Solar Charm that I knew should have been easy was painfully awkward.

The Murqai watched us. I noticed that they grinned a little bit too broadly when Veritas hit me with the back of his hand and informed me bluntly that I _could_use the Charm he was teaching me without "being obvious". To my horror, I realized that my Caste Mark was flaring and I was surrounded by a faint corona of golden light.

"Your daiklave is no different from my lightning spear!" Veritas scolded me. "Focus!"

I concentrated on my sword, doing as I had been instructed. The little Charm was simple and I could duplicate it. I _knew _that I could. And then suddenly... it worked. My daiklave disappeared from view, but I could still sense its presence nearby. All I needed to do was reach for it, expending the smallest amount of Essence – and it would be back in my hands.

"Good work. Now call the blade." Veritas instructed.

"Not now, someone's coming!" Roach hissed.

"Quick, in!" Amira seized me by the arm, tossing me into the Murqai's wagon. Digging furiously, she discovered a silky pink kimono and tossed it in my face.

"No!" I protested, knowing precisely what she intended.

When I refused to dress myself, Amira stripped me down to my skin.

I could hear the Murqai in conversation not far away, but they were speaking in their own language again so I couldn't sort out exactly what was being said. Salakhin and Roach seemed to be doing most of the talking, and whoever they were with seemed to think that Roach was hysterical. After a few minutes, I heard the sound of horses trotting away. I guessed that a few more Murqai had arrived to see what their cousins were up to and sighed in relief. That had been a close call!

I winced as Amira ruthlessly seized my belt. "Amira!" I hissed. "Take it easy!"

"I'm very good at getting silly boys out of their armor, and you're an easier victim than most!" Amira informed me, tearing off my pants. She had no trouble dressing me either. I was too mortified to resist. After wrapping a silly flowered scarf around my head several times, Amira reached into Elsewhere and produced a little box of cosmetics. She slapped some color on her own lips and kissed me in a manner that made the strength go out of my legs.

"You are an _evil_ woman!" I informed her.

Amira sighed. "Those Immaculates at the gate are going to be looking for you, Loren! Anyone walking through that gate in House Cathak lamellar might as well have a _target_ on his head."

"He does have a target on his head." Roach chimed in. He pulled aside the wooden window shutter and grinned very broadly as he saw what Amira had done to me. "You all have targets on your heads!" He added.

"Roach!" I protested.

"No, he's right. I'm getting quite used to that feeling, honestly." Veritas sighed. "Are you decent, Faeslayer?"

"Yup, all done! Out you go!" Amira shoved me forward.

"I _can't_! I look ridiculous!" I protested, tripping over the hem of the kimono. As I fell out of the wagon, I grabbed hold of the closest thing he could lay my hands on, which happened to be Veritas's sleeve.

Veritas stared at me for a moment and then collapsed, laughing. "Sun-in-Glory… Heartsblood, _what __have __you __done_?"

Dressed as I was, I must have made quite the impression. Despite how they seemed to revere Veritas and myself, the Murqai were laughing as well.

"Damnit, Amira! This will never work!" I protested, utterly humiliated.

"No, it is brilliant!" Salakhin argued. "This is Nexus you are trying to get into, Sun-Chosen. The River Harlot's legs, the… how you say? "sleaziest" city in The Scavenger Lands. And you look… ah, I admit, you look _very _bad. But that is a good thing! Do you understand?"

I scowled. Amira elbowed me.

"The whole Realm may be looking for you, Faeslayer... but they'll never expect to find _him _dressed like you are right now!" Veritas winked. "Just try not to start arguing with your dog!"

I turned to Amira who bowed and immediately shifted into the form of a medium-sized tawny dog. Mustering her very best innocent expression, she looked up at me and wagged her tail.

"Why, this will make an excellent song! We shall be watching from close by. Good fortune to you, my cousin! And to you, Descending Sun. And to you also, Great Faeslayer!" Salakhin bowed.

"Thank you for your help. I'll bring your animal and your cart to the Brood Market as soon as the sun goes down. Safe travels, my cousin!" Roach waved.

I was not surprised to see that Roach had changed his clothes so that he was dressed like one of the Murqai himself. The look suited him better than Imperial-issue lamellar ever had.

As Salakhin and his family departed, I worried about Roach and wondered if I should have told him to follow his fellow Southerners instead. No one in the Winds would have recognized him amongst the Murqai and clearly he remembered enough from his childhood to feel comfortable around members of his old tribe. The lives of known Anathema are dangerous by any standards, particularly when one occupies the same portion of Creation as the Realm's most vicious Wyld Hunt.

We headed down towards the blockade before the city gates, myself in the back of the wagon with Amira. Every so often she looked at me and I couldn't guess what she was thinking. I made an effort to rub as much of the makeup off of my faces as possible and attempted to untie the obi that Amira had wrapped around my ribs so tightly I could barely breathe. When I tried to stand, the wagon hit a rut and I fell over. Amira licked my face. Then she resumed her human form and fixed the collar of the kimono I was wearing.

"Take it easy!" She scolded.

I sighed in defeat. I knew from experience that it was worthless to threaten Amira. She had a witty retort for every line I could think up. "I swear I'm… I'm going to tie you up!" I finished pathetically as we passed a huge Southerner leading a string of cows.

"Keep talking dirty to me, lover!" Amira teased, resuming her dog form.

That was when we reached the blockade.

"Everyone out of the wagon!" A Dragonblooded soldier ordered. He looked like an Earth Aspect. Amira bounded out of the back of the wagon. I followed her.

"How many in your party?" A monk with a stack of papers inquired.

"Three. Myself, my business associate, and my sister. What's this about?" Veritas demanded, taking the lead. He sounded exactly like every pretentious merchant I had ever known.

"We're looking for fugitives." The officer explained. "Cathak Loren, son of Dragonlord Chiron and his servant, a Southerner who goes by the name of "Roach". They may still be dressed in the colors of the Ravenous Winds. Cathak Loren is described as six foot tall and fair with blue eyes. He may also be in the company of an Eastern woman with silver hair and golden eyes. _She _is a known Anathema and _very _dangerous."

Still fiddling with my awful disguise, I backed directly into a monk. Amira bounded towards me and nudged me with her nose. When I shoved her away, she returned to playing the part of a stray well enough and stayed close to the edge of the crowd.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?" The monk wondered. Two more soldiers opened the back of our wagon and began examining its contents. Of course, all of our incriminating possessions were conveniently stashed in "Elsewhere".

"Ma'am?" The monk repeated. It wasn't until he put his hand on my shoulder that I realized he was talking to me. He instinctively took a step back as I turned in his direction. My "chest" had come unstuffed and I quickly scooped up the scarves that had fallen in the dirt – mostly because I was too mortified to make eye contact with anyone dressed as I was.

Veritas took hold of my hair immediately and pulled me down to his level, which was about four inches shorter than my own height. Then he seized my ear. After hearing his opinion on Immaculates, I guessed that he'd been a monk, and the maneuver he'd used to get my attention confirmed it. He obviously had formal training. He could have dropped me on my face in any number of ways, but he'd purposefully chosen the manner that would be most painful, and most likely to make me look completely inept, despite the fact that I was a martial artist myself.

"Ow!" I protested. "Let me go!"

"You degenerate!" Veritas scolded. "What have I told you about flirting with soldiers! I swear I'll lock you back up in the wagon!"

I didn't have an opportunity to say anything in return. After his soldiers found nothing incriminating in our baggage, the officer snorted and motioned for us to keep going. He watched me until the crowd swallowed us up and I tried not to look at him. I hoped desperately that the expression that I couldn't read on his face was disgust.

Veritas threw me back into the wagon. As soon as we were out of sight of the inspectors, Amira hopped back into the wagon, resumed her human form and smacked me hard on the back of the head.

"You _idiot!_" She growled. "You almost got us caught!"

"This wasn't my idea!" I protested.

She tousled my hair and laughed. "I know, I know! But we got into the city, didn't we? It could've gone a lot worse!"

"I am wearing rogue and a kimono. I fail to see how." I glared at her. Amira smirked mischievously.

"So where to next?" Roach wondered, peering through the window at the two of us. "I've got to return this wagon soonish." He explained.

"Might as well return it now before someone tries to rob our Murqai friends. My apprentice lives fairly close to here. Two streets over, one street down." Amira replied.

"Why am I not surprised that your "apprentice" lives in Harlotry?" Veritas sighed. Obviously, he knew the lay of the city. Not that it surprised me. He spoke Rivertongue like a native, and with a name like Veritas, I suspected that he'd been born in the Scavenger Lands.

"You have an apprentice?" I wondered, turning to Amira. It was the first I'd heard of such a thing.

"Of course. A Lunar my age? I've had dozens. Someone's got to keep those young pups in line!" Amira smirked. "But Emerald Viper was one of my all-time favorites. We're kindred spirits. You boys are just going to _love _her."

Veritas rolled his eyes and Roach started laughing.

"Stop it!" I elbowed him, probably a lot harder than he should have.

Roach almost fell off the wagon, but Amira caught his hand and heaved him back up. He blinked at me in surprise, looking hurt.

She glared at me. "Do that again and you're going to kill your mortal." Amira warned.

"Why do you call me that? I have a name!" Roach demanded.

"Yes, and you're a fugitive now, remember?" Amira replied.

"Oh, and calling me "mortal" is real subtle!" Roach snorted.

"He's got a point!" I smiled. "Weren't you just complaining about my acting ability?"

Amira scowled. "If anyone gets us caught, it's going to be you! Loren, you can't tell a lie to save your life, not unless it's a lie that you've convinced yourself is true! You may have taught yourself some pretty impressive stuff, but the things you know aren't going to help you lie low now that the biggest Wyld Hunt in the Scavenger Lands _knows _you're a Solar. And if you don't lie low… you're a dead man."

We approached the Bridge of Whispers.

"Turn right here." Amira pointed, and Roach nodded. We crossed into Fishmarket and began following River Road south. The neighborhood we were passing through was one of the worst in Nexus, and anyone who stared at us too long was politely reminded by a local mercenary that it wasn't polite to watch people who were minding their own business. At the Big Market, Salakhin and his family retrieved their wagon, wishing us all well again. I changed into some different clothing provided by the Murqai and grudgingly sold them my lamellar armor, tucking the coins inside of my clothing where no sticky fingers would find them.

I never bothered to ask Amira where she'd hidden the armor she'd been so insistent about stripping off of me. Elsewhere, I suspected. I wondered if there was a limit to how much she could keep stowed away in there.

It was after dark when we finally reached Viper's "business". The building was four stories tall and built in the style of an Imperial estate with huge red and gold columns lining the street. I stared in disbelief at the gaudy, brightly lit sign which featured a diminutive red-faced little Dragonblood attempting to cleave a grinning fox-eared Lunar in half.

"_Anathema's_?" Veritas muttered something that sounded like an Old Realm curse word.

"Hello boys!" A girl chirped, leaning out the window. She looked about sixteen and was very well-endowed, wearing nothing but a flimsy little chainmail ensemble. A bronzed young man in a loincloth opened the door for us, flashing a smile. He had fox tail pinned to his rear _and_ an incoherent golden smudge on his head.

I stared in horror. I wasn't the only one.

"This is… this is the most offensive thing I've ever seen!" Veritas sputtered. "It's… positively _heretical_!"

There was something very monkish about the expression on his face at that moment. Roach laughed. Anyone who had overheard him must have thought that he was a true believer of the Immaculate philosophy. Of course, I suspected that Veritas was more concerned by how the business was likely to be perceived by The Unconquered Sun.

"Where better for two Solars to remain inconspicuous?" Amira bowed dramatically. "Anyone who rants and raves about seeing an Exalt on _this_ street gets a night in the can!"

"Can?" Veritas eyed her suspiciously.

"Street slang for jailhouse." Amira clarified.

Roach beamed as the girl in the chainmail bounded over to him and drew an awkward circle in gold paint on his head. "Well, I don't know about you two, but _I'm_ going in!" He winked in Amira's direction.

"Let me see if I have this straight." Veritas paused. "Your apprentice runs a brothel where whores _pretend _to be Exalts? Why hasn't the Immaculate Order burned this place to the ground?"

"Are you kidding?" Amira laughed, taking him by the arm and leading him inside. There was a table full of soldiers dressed in the colors of House Sesus not two feet away from the door. More than half of the men had gold or silver paint on their faces, and a whore wearing a set of cat ears was sitting on their Dragonblooded officer's lap."This is their favorite hangout!" She winked.

"Get… off of me!" Veritas cursed, dodging two whores who were trying their damnedest to smear some gold paint on him. When he stumbled back into us, he had not _one_but _two_Twilight Caste Marks on his face, one between his eyes where it should have been and the other on his chin.

I broke out laughing despite myself. "Looks like they got you!"

"Not so subtle yourself." Veritas retorted as a waifish little blond covered with painted leopard spots slapped a dollop of gold paint on my head and then proceeded to turn the blob into something that probably resembled my Caste Mark.

"Mm. Hello Sun-Child! _You_ look good enough to eat!" A voice caught my attention and I slowly turned around. A voluptuous woman with skin the color of dark chocolate and brilliant green eyes stood behind me with her hands on her hips. She was beautiful by any standards and her strong accent made her seem even more exotic and seductive. Her moonsilver tattoos glowed in the firelight with a luster that left me absolutely certain that she was a genuine Lunar.

I suspected she saw no reason to be subtle when most of her customers were heavily intoxicated. Winking at Amira, the Lunar seized my arm and drew me towards her, as if she were planning on kissing me. Then she flicked her snake tongue in my face, unabashedly showing off her Tell. Despite myself, I immediately fell on the floor.

"You must be Viper." I observed, probably sounding nervous.

"Guilty as charged! C'mere, you!" Viper winked and wrapped Amira in a hug. I knew from experience that Amira's hugs could raise anyone's body temperature by a dozen degrees and was not as surprised as I probably looked to see Viper putting her hands on Amira in places where a more refined woman might have slapped them away. "Oh, Mira dear, he's _scrumptious!_" Viper batted her eyes. "Please tell me we can play with him later?"

I must have blushed absolutely scarlet at the sound of those words. It was very obvious that Amira and Viper had a "past" in more ways than one. I did not doubt that if she and Amira worked together, they would get whatever they wanted out of me, no matter how utterly shocking. Raised in a Dynast's household, I was no stranger to deviant behavior. Powerful Dragonbloods whose marriage partners could not satisfy their urges often had mistresses, kept men, sex slaves or even entire harems. Even still, Amira often sent my head spinning with her "suggestions" and I suspected that the most obscene, hedonistic Sesus who had ever lived could not hold a candle to Emerald Viper.

"We'll see. So how have you been, my sneaky little pet?" Amira asked.

"Well, as you can see… business is busy, busy, busy!" Viper sighed. "But other than that, I'm bored to tears. Nobody painted you yet?" She inquired, brushing aside Amira's silver hair to see if any of the whores had put a Caste Mark on her.

"Hey, Boss! There you are! Loren, have you _seen_ Veritas?" Roach exclaimed. He had an overflowing mug in each hand and looked perfectly at home in his surroundings. "He's got _targets_ all over him now!" Roach added, taking a long drink out of one of his mugs. "Damn, this stuff is good! Who makes it?"

"That would be _me._" Viper smirked.

When he saw Viper, Roach gave a low wolf-whistle. "_You're_ Amira's apprentice?" He observed, the tone of his voice making it very clear that he was about to follow with some sort of atrocious pickup line. Viper didn't give him the chance to embarrass himself.

"I _was_, many, many years ago. Now we're "friends"." She whispered in a tone that left everything to the imagination. For the second time, I caught Viper and Amira both undressing me with their eyes.

"But it's a pleasure nonetheless. My name is Emerald Viper." Viper circled around Roach, evaluating him as potential prey. His eyes followed her in the same manner. "And you are?" Viper pressed.

Roach recovered quickly. "Roach. I'm with them." He replied, jerking a thumb at me.

"Welcome to my humble establishment." Viper replied. She observed the smudged mark on Roach's head and reached out with one very long fingernail to catch a drip of paint before it rolled down his nose.

"So what'd they paint on me? I haven't seen it." Roach admitted.

"Well, right now it's all running down your face." Viper admitted. "If you step behind that red curtain over there, I'll grab a few of my brushes and… tattoo you into some kind of animal, eh? A tiger? A wolf?" She suggested. "A stallion?" Viper made an outrageously obnoxious noise. I took a few steps back, but Roach seemed to take her absurd behavior as a sign to start acting like an imbecile himself.

"Mm. I can't decide. What are you going to be?" He taunted.

"Oooh, I like you!" Viper exclaimed, grabbing Roach by the collar of his shirt. The two of them waltzed back into the kitchen, giggling like hyenas. Did Viper think that Roach was also an Exalt? He did seem awfully comfortable around us. I decided not to say anything. Amira must have sensed my apprehension though, because she definitely looked concerned.

"So that was your apprentice? What exactly _did_y ou teach her?"

"Everything she needed to know to be a good Lunar." Amira replied.

"Fighting, tracking, hunting, stealing and…" I trailed off into silence.

"Mm. _Everything_." Amira whispered my ear. "So, shall we go see what our "students" are up to?" She suggested.

I stared at Amira. She giggled. I knew she loved how I reacted when she said something outrageous, and while I was sure that it would be a bad idea to let Viper have Roach alone, I _really _didn't want to watch whatever it was she had planned for him. Amira, however, was clearly of the opinion "the more, the merrier!"

"I think they'll be just fine without us." I replied.

"Spoilsport." Amira frowned. I sat down at a table in the far corner of the room. A very effeminate boy dressed as a dappled horse brought us two overflowing mugs of the house brew and then painted a silver crescent moon on Amira's brow.

"How do they know?" I wondered, looking at my reflection in the mirror on the ceiling. The paint had dripped almost down to my nose. Despite the alarm that I knew it would cause if anyone actually saw me, I illuminated my Caste Mark for a brief moment, observing how closely the paint mirrored it.

"They _don't_ know!"Amira rolled her eyes, pointing to a Dragonblooded man, obviously a Water Aspect who sat at the bar. He had an open gold circle between his eyes and silver tattoos all over his face. "They _guess_, and sometimes they just go crazy. Plenty of people come in here and don't get painted at all. A talented whore can read her clients. No magic involved."

"If you say so." I sighed.

I nearly jumped out of his skin as the doors blew open and immediately muted my caste mark, expecting the Wyld Hunt. Looking equally nervous, Veritas dunked into the corner booth right beside me, still trying to rub the paint off of himself. He was covered in so much gold that it looked like he'd been burning Essence.

Amira seemed to recognize the man who'd just walked into Anathema's immediately. "Don't look now, it's Dead Eddie." She groaned.

"Who?" Veritas wondered, staring in the direction that Amira had just warned him not to.

Right before the House Sesus table stood a ghost. He was gaunt, even for one of the dead and dressed in archaic funerary robes, dark circles under his eyes and a mop of stringy black hair on his head. Surrounding him was an entourage, mostly faces I recognized from elsewhere in Harlotry and the theatre district. A vacant-looking blond woman clung to the arm of a brawny, equally vacant-looking young man. Both of them were wearing little horns on their heads.

"What's _this_? Fair folk?" The girl controlling the door immediately ran to greet them.

"No, we're yozi!" The blond giggled.

"Wow! Real yozi? I don't think we've ever had yozi in here before!" The girl exclaimed. "Well, you've come to the right place! Well, I'm Kitten, and if there is anything at all you need, _you-just-let-me-know_!"

"He looks familiar." I observed, still staring at Dead Eddie.

"He's been around for a long time." Amira admitted. "In life, he was a lousy writer. In death, he's still a writer."

"A better writer?" Veritas suggested hopefully, watching Dead Eddie's entourage.

"Not exactly. His plays are morbid and totally incomprehensible. The difference is, Eddie has always liked to write stuff about famous Solars – so _now_ he's edgy and controversial. Back in the old days he was sort of _blah, __blah, __blah_. All those people who follow him claim he's got an incredibly "intense" personality." Amira sighed. "Of course, most of them are drug addicts. Or morons." She jerked a thumb at the pair of "yozi" and I sighed heavily.

Were there no depths that people of Nexus would not sink to?

"Speaking of which, have any of you _heard _about Dead Eddie's new play?" Viper grinned wickedly, appearing out of nowhere and sliding up to our table. She still had her arm around Roach, who looked _very_pleased to have such a woman sitting on his lap. Despite Viper's promise to "tattoo" Roach, it seemed that she hadn't even fixed the mark on his forehead. The paint wasn't still dripping, but all it looked like was a gold thumb print.

"We just got into town. You might say we're a little behind on the gossip." Amira admitted.

"Well, I'm just going to tell you the "working title" and then you tell _me_how it's going to go over." Viper replied. "It's called, get this… "The Fall of the Deliberative"."

"They can perform that? Publicly?" Veritas blinked in surprised.

"This is Nexus, city of merry oblivion. You could _kill _someone in the middle of the Big Market and get away with it… so long as you didn't interrupt anyone's business." Amira informed him. "Usually the local Immaculates protest and try to get things canceled or banned. They'll probably be everywhere when Dead Eddie's show opens."

"I wouldn't bet on it." Viper admitted. "Right now those busybodies have their work cut out for them. They can't chase all the heretics out of this city anymore, so now they're trying to shove most of them into Fishmarket and Harlotry. About two weeks ago The Emissary issued a proclamation declaring legal status for all religions. And get this… he didn't even warn The Guild. He just did it on his own, went out and nailed the order to the doors of the Immaculate Temple."

"The Emissary?" I remembered how I had seen him watching me from the rooftops the last time I'd been in Nexus. I was very anxious to meet the man. There was something powerfully familiar about him. "Who is he really?"

"Well, that's the thing – nobody knows." Viper explained. "He's obviously very powerful, and he's been here for hundreds of years. It used to be that he just issued orders from up in his tower, but for the last five years he's been roaming the streets like some kind of vigilante. The last Dragonblooded who roughed up my girls were found stark naked and tied around a fountain in the Big Market with their underwear balled up in their mouths. Reports said it was one man who took them all out, wearing a mask and a white hooded cloak."

"I see." I observed with a slight smile. Since the first time I'd laid eyes upon Veritas's cloak-construct, Godchaser, I had been certain that there was some connection between my Circlemate and the mysterious watcher of the night.

Veritas gave me an odd look but said nothing.

So he wasn't the Emissary himself? But did he know who was? I wondered about that.

"Wait just a minute. _All_ religions are legal in this city? What about the ones that sacrifice animals and have weird sorts of sex rituals?" Roach demanded, slightly behind our conversation.

"I don't know. Personally, I think Luna prefers her temples to be a little further from civilization. You know, where you can actually see the moon?" Amira smiled slightly and gave a dramatic howl. Viper snickered.

"I like that second part best." She informed Roach, as if that were something he couldn't guess.

"Well, what about demon worshippers and death cults?" Veritas pressed, looking grim.

"The Wyld Hunt isn't that far away, and although they lost a lot of people fighting the fae, the Realm will send reinforcements for this kind of heresy!" I protested.

Viper snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I'm surprised that you're not more worried." I observed.

"Well, I'm _not. _I started this business more than forty years ago and I have everyone worth knowing in this city wrapped around my little finger! If those those Realm buffoons interfere with my business, the Guild will have them tossed in the Yanaze faster than you can say "lawsuit"." She replied, jerking a thumb at several Dragonblooded sitting near the bar.

That was when another stranger made his entrance, a very well-dressed man with long, curly auburn hair. His perfectly tailored blue velvet jacket reminded me of some of the fashions I had seen in the First Age. Though I couldn't immediately identify his face, his obnoxious barking laugh was unmistakable. I knew without a doubt that I'd met the man before, but his name would not come to me.

"Oooh, lookey what the cat dragged in! Adamant Quill!" Viper exclaimed, rising from her seat to greet the newcomer. The whore called "Kitten" meowed and attached herself to the man's arm.

"Ahah! You're mine tonight, Master Quill!" She giggled. "Rowr!"

"Do you know that man?" Veritas asked the boy who came to refill our drinks. He was watching Quill with obvious suspicion.

"Everyone knows Adamant Quill. He's the best tipper in town. Dunno why he's down here alone. He only usually comes in when there aren't enough tables at The An-Tang Princess for his fan club." The boy explained.

"Fan club?" I wondered.

Amira rolled her eyes. "You think those "Yozi" hanging onto Dead Eddie are embarrassing? You should see some of the trash that Quill usually totes around!" She smirked.

The moment that Adamant Quill and Dead Eddie caught sight of one another, I could have sworn I felt the ground shake beneath my feet. Obviously, there was bad blood between the two men. I couldn't shake what Viper's whore had said about Quill coming in to Anathema's for the sole purpose of causing trouble.

"Dead Eddie! Fancy meeting you here!" Quill beamed, holding out his arms as if for a hug.

The ghost glared at him. "What do _you_ want?"

"Is that any way to talk to your oldest friend?" Quill demanded.

"You're not my friend, you're my _tormentor_." Dead Eddie replied with enviable melodrama.

"Tormentor? Tormentor!" Quill rolled his eyes. "Gods, do you hear yourself? All of this over a bloody whore? Friends before dames, Deadie. Friends before dames! Now are you going to stop acting like a child and have a drink with me?"

"I'll be damned if I ever drink with you again, you backstabbing madman! Whatever you said to her, Three Pearls has blacklisted me!" Dead Eddie protested. "Now there's not one Seamstress in this city willing to perform in my play! Do you have any idea how bad that makes me look? I'm planning the production of the century, and not one reputable actress will agree to be in the cast!"

The woman who'd claimed to be a yozi earlier looked slightly upset by the words the playwright spoke, but she said nothing. Adamant Quill only laughed, that familiar, harsh, barking sound. I felt a distinct chill.

That was when I caught sight of a pair of slate gray eyes, cold as a dead fish, peering in through the corner of the front window. The eyes belonged to a little girl, no older than ten years who stood out on the street despite the pouring rain. She was not wearing any shoes and the oversized black funerary robes that she wore made me suspect that she was a ghost. But the presence I felt worried me, it didn't seem like one of the dead.

Well, not one of the _usual _dead anyway. There was something fundamentally _wrong_ about that child, as horrible as it was familiar. When I blinked, she was gone.

Dead Eddie stomped out of Anathema's, and Adamant Quill immediately followed him. Leaving Kitten standing like a sentinel in front of the bar, Viper came sashaying back to the rest of us.

"What was that all about?" Roach demanded, still watching the swinging door. I hadn't caught much of the conversation between the two men. The pale little girl I'd seen peering in the back window worried me more.

"Something about a woman called Three Pearls. The one called her a whore – the other disapproved of that description." I admitted.

"Well, Three Pearls _is_ a whore, but I wouldn't say that too loudly if I were you. She knows too many damned influential people who could make your life here in Nexus awfully miserable." Viper clarified. "Miss Pearls is exclusive… probably the most expensive bitch in Harlotry, but she can be bought just like the rest of us. She's got real pretensions of respectability though, enough to gag any honest whore. Calls her girls "Seamstresses" instead of what they are and sends em' to sing and pour drinks at parties for the rich old folks who live up on Sentinel Hill. I can't abide by that artsy shit myself." Viper grimaced. "And besides, I got a few girls and boys who make as much money as hers do, and they have more fun while they're at it." She paused, and from the expression on her face I could tell that something was very wrong.

"Mira? I'd better go outside and handle this." Viper whispered, not taking her eyes off of the front door. Quill and Eddie were in the middle of the street shouting very loudly. I could tell that things were about to get ugly – and if a fight broke out in the street, even in Harlotry, someone might very well call the authorities to clean it up.

"I'm going to go look for Recluse." I announced, though I doubted that anyone besides Roach heard me. I wasn't sure when he'd gotten up and left our table, but I felt compelled to ask him if he felt as strangely about Quill as I did.

I didn't get further than two steps out the back door of the whorehouse before I ran directly into Quill himself. He was a little shorter than I was and didn't have the look of a fighter, but I knew better than to make such an assumption about anyone. I was at a loss to guess how he'd dodged Viper so quickly and with so little apparent effort.

"Cathak Loren, I presume?" Adamant Quill smirked.

"How did you know?" I demanded. Belatedly I realized that I shouldn't have acknowledged my name. Then again, as Amira had pointed out... I've never been very good at lying.

"Not much in this city escapes my notice. But don't worry, I'm a friend." He replied. "Let's step back inside, shall we?"

I followed Quill around the corner, not sure what compelled me to do so. He led me in through the back door of Anathema's, as if sneaking around the place was something he had done many times before. Producing a little key from his pocket, he ushered me into a small private room with a single table and four chairs. As he closed the door behind us and pulled closed the curtains, I began to feel even more nervous.

"Why are we in here?" I demanded. The whole of the evening had been a tremendously confusing blur so far as I was concerned and unfortunately showed no signs of ending neatly.

"I felt that a proper introduction was necessary. I don't know if you recognize me or not, but I'm a very important person in this city. Adamant Quill the Two-Hundred and Twenty-Seventh at your service." He bowed dramatically.

"The Two-Hundred and Twenty-Seventh?" I stared in disbelief, not sure that I had heard correctly.

"Of course. My family has been in Nexus for over a thousand years. I'm named after my illustrious ancestor, one of the very first entrepreneurs to settle here." He beamed.

"Right. So what do you want with me?" I pressed.

"A little bird told me that you and your friends are on the run." He paused. "I bet your purse is lighter than you would like it to be."

"We could use some money." I admitted. Truthfully, I didn't know how much Amira or Veritas had squirreled away, but Roach and I were only in possession of our weapons and the clothes on our backs. I hadn't gotten nearly as much for my armor as I would have asked if I'd been afforded the time to sell it to someone reputable, as opposed to a bandit who would likely fence it for three times what he'd paid to me.

"Then let's make a deal. There's a Dragonblood here in town by the name of Sesus Nagezzer who's becoming a real thorn in my side. I need someone willing to do a little investigating around his compound. I suspect that Nagezzer is dealing with the Fae, specifically that they are supplying him with Wyld-tainted drugs in exchange for young women."

I did not even attempt to conceal my disgust. "Unbelievable!"

Quill smiled slightly. "My thoughts exactly." He paused.

"Loren, the long and short of it is that I want Nagezzer _humiliated_ in every way possible. I want him destroyed. The sooner he packs up his bags and hops a boat back to the Blessed Isle, the happier I'll be. And if you drum up enough dirt on The Slug to get him out of Nexus for good, I will make it well worth your while. I'm a very important person, Loren. I know people who know people."

"I see." I observed, suddenly not liking his tone at all. While the idea of trading women to the fae in exchange for drugs still sent a chill racing down my spine, I'd begun to suspect that Quill's own motives were hardly as pure as he'd made them sound. "A friend of mine will supply you with anything you need. When you get back to your table, your friend Roach will have a piece of paper in his pocket. That paper will have my friend's address on it." He explained.

"Right. So what insurance do you need from me that I'll do this job of yours?" I asked.

"You're an honorable man. In fact, your reputation is_ pristine_. All I need is your word. You'll help me destroy that Dragonblood by exposing his dealings with the Fae. You'll free the girls if you can find them. You'll kill any Fae that get in your way. And if you're caught snooping, you won't tell anyone that I put you up to it. How's that?" Quill replied.

I hesitated, but then I felt… a little braver, I suspect. I was already a wanted fugitive, and killing fae always sounded good to me. What did I have to lose? "I'll take the job. I'll get you Nagezzer, but only if he really is dealing with the fae. And no matter what happens, I want you to promise that you won't tell _anyone_ that my friends and I are here in Nexus. Also, I want paid as soon as the job is done. Twenty-five percent of whatever you're making out of this."

"You drive a hard bargain. Shake on it?" The moment our fingertips met, I knew that I had made a serious mistake. Quill took my hand with a grip like a marble statue and I couldn't have pulled away if I chose to. "Then let ours be an honorable oath, sealed under Heaven." He recited.

Brilliant white Solar Essence filled the room. I immediately understood why Quill had pulled the curtains when he walked in the door. He'd been intending to trick me into shaking his hand all along so that he could bind me to my promise!

"That was extremely sneaky, and completely unnecessary!" I scolded him. "What kind of Solar are you?" I demanded. In fairness, the only other Solar I'd ever met was Veritas, but that didn't change the fact that Quill had intentionally lured me into a place where he could use his powers on me without anyone catching him in the act. The Eclipse caste mark on Quill's brow flickered, so pale gold that it was almost white.

"Oh my, you actually called me a _Solar_!" Quill seemed genuinely surprised. "Well, there's something you don't hear every day! I must say, for a Dragonblood you have _very_ good manners! Usually when I do this sort of thing, I have to jump right into that "Behold, I'm a demon!" bit."

Words failed me. I gritted my teeth and gave the only answer I could. It was suddenly very bright in that little room.

Quill clapped his hands together and grinned wickedly as he saw my caste mark. "Ahah! I should have suspected as much! I've never met a real Cathak who didn't try to stab me on sight!" He informed me.

"You tricked me!" I protested.

"Yes, I tricked you once. Shame on me." He replied. "Next time it'll be your fault. Now I will admit, knowing that you are in fact a fellow Lawgiver and _not_a lousy bastard of Hesiesh does change things. I shall not sabotage you, as I was considering before. But you must still uphold your end of our bargain, otherwise this oath will hurt us both."

"This situation is more dangerous than you want to admit, isn't it? I could be killed!" I observed.

"And if I don't do as I have sworn – _you __will __be_." Quill replied coldly. When our eyes met, I felt a brief surge of fear. There was something behind his grinning mask that terrified me more than anything I'd ever seen before. As I stood facing Quill, I realized that there was a good chance that some Solars… some of _us_ might deserve the title of "Anathema". At very least, "Deceiver" seemed too mild of a term. Then again, if I knew anything at all about the Eclipse Caste… I knew that it had once been their duty to negotiate in the highest circles of Yu-Shan, not to mention the depths of the Underworld and the courts of the Fae. Such a thing couldn't possibly be healthy to anyone and it was obvious that some of that Wyld had rubbed off on Quill.

Not knowing what else to do, I went to find Amira.


	3. Chapter 3 - Criminal Mischief

**Chapter 3 – Criminal Mischief**

I learned from Viper that Amira had decided to follow Dead Eddie back to his apartment to be certain that he made it home without incident. She was sitting in the middle of the Bridge of Whispers petting a little lop-eared white dog when I finally tracked her down. Roach had followed her. He was staring up at the stars. Veritas was examining the architecture of the bridge, furiously scribbling notes on a small piece of paper.

"I wish I could test this!" Veritas complained. His eyes drifted in the direction of a group of nearby mercenaries. "Just a few motes of Essence and…"

"What?" I asked.

He turned slowly in my direction.

"Oh, Faeslayer! I didn't hear you coming." He admitted. "Well, I think that this bridge is designed to raise itself up. So that larger ships could pass underneath it and travel south on the river." He explained.

"Hunh. That's interesting." I nodded. "But I'm afraid that we've got something a little more important to worry about right now. Adamant Quill is a Solar."

"What?" Amira stood. The little dog bounded away. "Seriously? Are we talking about the same Adamant Quill?"

"The Two-hundred and twenty-seventh?" I supplied. "Yes. He's Eclipse Caste."

"Wow… you know, that just explains so much! I mean, I'd always wondered how he gets his paperwork done when he spends all day doing nothing but drinking coffee and telling people to take a bloody number. Charms! That sneaky bastard!" Amira laughed.

"No, this is _not_ funny!" I protested. "Quill's up to something dangerous and now I'm involved. He bound me into an oath that's probably going to get all of us killed. I need to figure out how to… cancel it, or something!" I finished.

"Well, you can't get out of Quill's oath. If he sealed it under Heaven, it would be pure stupidity to try. You really can't imagine what it could do to you." Veritas shook his head.

"Thanks for your optimism." I sighed.

"But we _can_ make him regret binding you!" Amira smirked, a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"How?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"We'll tell Dorian Gray what he did. See, Dorian _likes _Solars, generally speaking… but he's got it out for Quill. If he doesn't already know Quill is a Solar, I bet he'd _love_to. And after the Emissary, Dorian Gray is the most feared man in Nexus. Well, he's actually a _God_ but…" Amira continued.

"A God?"

"Dorian Gray claims that he used to be _The __God _of The Guild, one of the three most powerful deities in the Scavenger Lands. He's sort of… disenfranchised now. A local God of bureaucratic corruption and criminal mischief." Amira paused.

"Which explains why he's still the second most-powerful being in Nexus. After The Emissary, of course." Veritas added.

"Ok, so why don't we go see this Dorian?" I wondered.

"Well, nobody _sees _Dorian." Amira explained. "Dorian _sees_ you. And if we want him to see us… we've got two choices. We could go to Three Pearls Radiant. She's the Guildmistress of the "Seamstresses", the high-priced prostitutes here in Harlotry. Three Pearls knows everyone in this city worth knowing. If anyone can arrange a meeting with Dorian Gray, she can. Still, there's no guarantee that she'll hook us up with him for free. Or…"

"Or we could get involved in a little criminal mischief?" She suggested.

Viper was not very happy when she learned that the four of us had decided to set up a meeting with Three Pearls Radiant, "the pretentious old hag" who ran the most exclusive house of ill-repute in all of Harlotry. She said something incoherent about "my Sapphire" and then wished us luck with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

I learned only much later why Three Pearls and Viper did not get along. Suffice to say, it was a very convoluted story which culminated in a wardrobe being set on fire. Since one fine kimono could cost more than even a very good prostitute could make in a year, as the whores of Harlotry saw it, starting such a fire was a hanging offense.

Of course, hanging Emerald Viper was something easier said than done. She was every bit as clever as Amira was and surrounded herself with a tight-knit group of whores, thieves, con-men and mercenaries, all of whom were willing to just about anything for their patroness.

It was not difficult to find _The __Three __Pearls __Teahouse_. Aside from _Anathema's_, it was the tallest and most ostentatious building on the street. A mousy little maid answered the door. She said nothing at all but only ushered us into the sumptuous sitting room, assuming we were the sort of men who could afford to pay. That wasn't true... but Viper had provided the three of us with a loan of good clothing so that we wouldn't cause a stir walking into such an elite establishment. Veritas folded his hands on his lap and sat as if he had a board nailed to his back. He did not look comfortable, but he was clearly aware of what was expected of him. Roach poked at the curtains and I poured myself a small amount of brandy from a bottle on the table.

Because of her close relationship with Viper, Amira had elected to stay behind at Anathema's so that she wouldn't hinder our negotiations. It did not surprise me at all to learn that Amira and Three Pearls had met before and that the meeting had progressed in a "less than desirable" manner. I considered asking Roach to stay behind too, but I was still somewhat worried about leaving him alone with Viper. Being wrapped up in a relationship with a dangerous Lunar many centuries old was proving to be enough trouble for me. I couldn't imagine how Roach would fare in the same situation.

"The mistress will see you now." A "Seamstress" dressed in pale blue announced, stepping into the room where we waited with no more sound than a ghost. Unlike Viper's employees who were utterly shameless, she was nothing if not the pinnacle of refinement. I could have mistaken her for a Dynast. Veritas bowed politely and she smiled. I wasn't sure if the expression on her face was genuine or not, but it looked that the Seamstress found Veritas attractive. I knew that he'd been a monk before he Exalted and was beginning to suspect that before entering the monastery he'd once moved in Dynastic social circles just as I had myself.

Roach avoided the Seamstress's gaze. Though he'd been right at home at Viper's brothel, coming into The Three Pearls Teahouse was too much like walking into a Dragonblooded House for his liking. I had to admit that most of the members of my family had treated him reprehensibly during our years on The Blessed Isle. Sometimes I wondered what possessed him to stay with me as long as he had.

The three of us followed the Seamstress up a narrow flight of stairs and through the ornate wooden doors of a very fine office. A well-dressed woman was sitting on a pile of cushions in the center of the room, sipping a cup of tea and perusing an account book with a faint smile on her face as if it were a somewhat risque novel.

Three Pearls Radiant was undeniably striking with very pale skin, peculiar mismatched eyes and long black hair with a dozen colorful little feathers in it, not ornaments, as I initially expected. Some of the feathers smoked faintly as she stood and acknowledged the three of us. Her fingernails were like claws, and the air around her smelled faintly of opium and sake. That was when I remembered something that Amira had muttered before the three of us had left for the Teahouse. Three Pearls was a Godblood, the daughter of Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants. While not as powerful as Veritas or myself, she was much older than we were and very crafty.

"She may attempt to use Charms on us." Veritas whispered, nudging me.

"I'll keep an eye on Roach." I informed him.

"Welcome, gentlemen!" Three Pearls smiled, gliding towards us like a butterfly in her beautiful white silks. She stopped directly before me and traced the line of my jaw with one fingernail. "Now tell me, beautiful boy... what can I do for _you_?" She whispered seductively. I stared, dumbfounded. With Veritas and Roach on either side of me, it hadn't even occurred to me that I would be her first target.

"It's business before pleasure today, madam." Veritas interrupted, seeing that I was stumbling over the words that I'd rehearsed. "We need to arrange a meeting with Dorian Gray."

"Oh." Three Pearls replied flatly, wrinkling her nose. "Why?" She demanded, sitting back down with her papers.

I felt a slight disturbance in the air around me and the smell of opium in the room became somewhat stronger. Three Pearls had just used a Charm, probably to ascertain whether or not we were telling her the truth.

"The long and short of it is, I've gotten into some trouble with Adamant Quill. I'm not from Nexus, madam, and I've only been told that Dorian is the only man capable of getting Quill off my back. I agreed to do a job for him, not knowing who he was, and now he may be arranging to have me killed." I finished, though what Quill had said about a Dragonblooded selling mortal girls to the Fae made my blood boil.

Though I didn't want to work with Quill's metaphorical claws in my neck, I knew I'd be doing some investigating even if we did managed to get him to rescind the oath he'd bound me to.

Three Pearls narrowed her eyes. "What sort of job?" She demanded.

"Some girls who've disappeared. Quill thinks there's a pattern. He thinks they've been kidnapped by some merchant called Nagezzer and sold to the Fae. He wants us to investigate." I explained.

"Well, Quill is right about Sesus Nagezzer." Three Pearls replied without hesitation. "Eight girls have vanished in the last two weeks and all of them near his compound. The problem is, none of them were actually hired by _that slug_, so there's no direct link to him. Worse still, even those who have friends in low places have not been able to find any evidence of what happened."

"You do suspect Fae then?" Veritas pressed.

"Yes. But I would also advise you against investigating this matter further. As you suspect, doing so may cost you your life." She replied. "The curse that Quill most likely worked upon you is not as deadly as the things you would be meddling in by upholding your bargain. You do know, or you've just learned, I suspect... that Adamant Quill is Anathema. That's why you asked about Dorian, isn't it? Don't be afraid of Quill. He may be a demon, but his bark is far worse than his bite."

"I'm _not _afraid of him!" I argued. "But if the Fae are taking young women... they must be stopped!"

"Yeah!" Roach agreed. It was the first thing he'd said since we came inside.

"Boy, you do _not_have the power to meddle in the affairs of The Red Queen." Three Pearls reprimanded me. "Neither does Quill, which is why he deigned to put your lives on the line instead of his own. I shall never understand what my daughter sees in that arrogant lout." She snorted.

"Your daughter?" Veritas paused.

"She is among the missing, and Quill adores her as much as he loathes me. Which is why I'm certain that you will not stand a chance against the ones who are behind this. Sapphire may be coarse and crude and reckless... but she does have some redeeming qualities. She is exceptionally strong in every sense of the word and far more intelligent than her wagging tongue makes her sound." Three Pearls finished.

"Fair enough." Veritas nodded. "But, supposing we were inclined to ignore your warnings and go looking anyway? Where would you recommend we start?"

"I would recommend Cogging Street. That Djala miscreant Little Fox said something to me about a bakery." Three Pearls sighed heavily. "But really, if this matter is beyond me, and beyond Adamant Quill... what makes you think that you three stand a chance?"

"Lady, you don't know us!" Roach replied with a slight smile.

"Good luck then. You're going to need it if you want to play heroes." Three Pearls nodded cordially. "I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Come back if you need more information." She offered.

"And what about Dorian?" Veritas pressed.

"Find Sapphire and you won't need to deal with him." She replied. "She'll handle Quill for you."

"Must be some girl." Roach observed.

"Takes after her mother." The Seamstress at the door added. Three Pearls shot her a black look and she immediately scurried away.

We went back to Anathema's and Roach and I sat down with Viper and Amira in the little back room where Quill had bound me with his oath. We drew the curtains and waited for Roach, who'd insisted upon changing out of his borrowed clothes immediately. Veritas also changed. His usual attire hadn't been too "shabby" for a visit to Three Pearls, but all of the gold and white that he wore made him look an awful lot like the Emissary. It absolutely baffled me that everyone in Nexus did not immediately guess that he was a Solar.

When Veritas entered, his construct "Godchaser" shrieked gleefully and flew up from underneath the table. Roach almost fell out of his chair and Amira's tail bristled. The construct began jabbering at him in Old Realm, speaking so fast that I couldn't hope to understand anything it said. Veritas calmly asked it to quiet down, at least for the moment and promised that they'd discuss whatever it was that she'd learned later. When he sat across from Viper at the foot of the table, the construct hovered over his shoulder, watching all of us gravely.

Taking some little tools out of nothingness, Veritas immediately set to work on a tiny orichalcum device that he produced from his pocket. I knew what it was immediately. It was one of his "killer bugs". Though I hadn't known what I was toying with when I'd actually caused one to explode back on the Blessed Isle, I'd since learned that they were tiny, essence-powered surveillance devices. In his past life, Veritas had commanded a veritable armada of them. Perfect had called them "Resplendent Whirlagigs."

"We're here to have a meeting." Viper informed him.

"I'm listening." He replied.

"You can't listen _and _fiddle!" Viper reprimanded him.

"Are you implying that _I'm _incapable of doing two things at once?" He gave a slight sardonic smile, folded his hands and illuminated his Caste Mark. Though he did not touch the device or his tools, the work he'd begun continued anyway.

Viper rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Roach stared in awe.

"All right, maybe _you _can build something without thinking about it! But that doesn't change the fact that you're being awfully distracting right now when we all need to focus!" I sighed.

Roach immediately composed himself. "I'm fine!" He protested, though he still kept one eye trained on Veritas and his Whirlagig which was meticulously repairing itself.

"Let him work!" Amira snorted. "Roach had better get used to seeing the rest of us burn Essence. Loren insists on keeping him."

"I'm not "keeping" Roach! He's not a pet!" I reprimanded her. "He's got the same right to be here as the rest of us, and he can walk away when he wants to!"

Everyone in the room, including Roach, glanced at me doubtfully.

"I'm not controlling him! We're not Gods!" I protested.

"You haven't met many Gods, have you, Faeslayer?" Veritas observed.

"Well... no." I admitted truthfully, remembering my encounter with Madame Marthacine.

"I didn't think so. If you _had,_ you'd know that most of them are terrified of us." Veritas explained. "I've said it before and I'll say it as many times as I have to. You need to hear it until it sinks in." He sighed heavily. "We are _Solars_, Loren. We are the _scariest_ things in Creation. Anything more powerful than us comes from beyond this world. And it's our job to toss it right back out again."

I said nothing in response. There wasn't a whole lot I could say after hearing something like that.

"All right. The way I see it, we need to be very, very careful. We probably don't have a lot of time, but we can't afford to underestimate the fae." I paused. "Tomorrow morning our first mission will be strictly reconnaissance. We'll look for this bakery that Three Pearls mentioned and interrogate some of the people who live on Cogging Street near Nagezzer's compound."

"I love _interrogations_!" Amira added.

"I know. That's part of the reason I don't think you should be doing any of the talking. We don't need to terrify these people out of their wits. Most of them are probably innocent and don't know anything. Use your stray dog disguise and keep close to us. That way, no one will recognize you, and if we need backup you can go get Viper."

"Oh, boo! You're no fun at all!" Amira pouted.

Veritas sighed and rolled his eyes. "I agree with Faeslayer. We need to lie low and avoid getting into any trouble with the Realm. Any… _more_ trouble, that is."

"All right, you two can go do your "interrogating" without me! I'll follow you." Amira sighed, slinking around behind me. "Tell you what. I'm gonna go back to the bar and drink some more and when _you _decide you've done enough "thinking" for one night…" She tugged on my shirt collar and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "_You_ can come and meet me upstairs."

Veritas shrugged and went back to work on his device, Godchaser whispering things over his shoulder. It was late enough in the day that Viper's business was beginning to pick up for the evening and Roach had apparently decided that it was early enough to start drinking too. Trying not to dwell on our plans for tomorrow, I went upstairs.

Amira met me at the door of our room and decided that she'd had enough of the clothes that I was wearing. She tore off my shirt and dragged me into bed. The sensation of her fingers running through my hair and her lips just an inch from my throat made me completely forget how badly I'd wanted to strangle her earlier. As much as she ever infuriated me, there was a softer side to Amira. She gave a little sigh of contentment as she rested her head against my chest. I'd always believed that I would marry someday… that sort of thing is an obligation in any Dynast's House, but I hadn't really given much thought to the kind of woman my wife would be. And I would _never_ have envisioned myself with someone like Amira!

Her tail tickled my thigh as she nestled closer to me. I sighed, reached down and carefully tried to move it without waking her. My attempt did not go unnoticed. "Yeeeess?" Amira giggled.

"Nothing." I told her.

"You've got my tail." She informed me.

"You're… you're tickling me with it!" I sighed in defeat and immediately let go, knowing how red I must have looked and feeling painfully flustered.

"Oh?" She teased. Her tattoos gleamed in the moonlight. The first time I'd seen them, they'd shocked me… but I was getting used to them. And in a strange way, I was beginning to think that they made her somehow more attractive than she already was, in the same way that a beautiful dress would have. The tattoos conveyed was a sense of everything that Amira ever was, whimsical, brilliant, and maddening. And for all that Amira had doubted Luna's presence, I could see all over her the signature of her patron Goddess.

I wondered for a moment how I looked through her eyes, so like my past self that sometimes she could not seem to tell the two of us apart. Not for the first time, I touched my own finger where I as Alexander had worn my wedding ring. Not in the mood for my musings, Amira pounced on me and pinned down my wrists. She held a length of silk ribbon in her teeth and the mischievous spark in her eyes warned me that I was _not _going to have a say in whatever she had planned.

As fate would have it, that was when two of Anathema's inebriated patrons opened our door. The first was a young Dragonblooded officer and behind him was one of Viper's girls, who did not look surprised to see an _authentic_ Lunar wearing nothing at all. The Dragonblooded stared at Amira in confusion, probably wondering what he was seeing… until the whore he was with quickly slammed our door. "Let's try a different room." The whore suggested quickly.

"Did you _see_ him? Oh, that little _pervert_! He wanted to join us so bad I could smell it!" Amira tittered.

"You're horrible!" I told her.

"And _you __love __it_." She purred in my ear, tying my wrists together with her ribbon.

Suffice to say, I'd had hardly any sleep when some sort of early morning commotion woke Amira.

While she searched for her clothes, I stumbled down the steps to see what was going on. The first person who caught my eye was Roach. Obviously nursing a hangover, he was lying on the bar with a cold rag on his forehead. He didn't look like he'd had any sleep either, not with that smug smile on his face.

I didn't see what the problem was, not at first. There was a lot of shouting going on between Viper, one of her boys and a few of the soldiers who were standing in the doorway of Anathema's. There were at least a dozen of them, and a few looked vaguely familiar to me. Of course, since I'd only just woken up and had been fooling around with Amira all night… I was feeling a bit more like Alexander than Loren. It took me almost too long to recognize the colors of the Ravenous Winds, and when I did, I jumped behind the nearest curtain.

The officer in charge of the men was one I knew well, a Wood-Aspect by the name of Yarati. He and I had graduated from the same class at Paisap's Stair, but while I had chosen the Winds for the opportunity Mnemon Rai promised, Yarati had joined up simply because no one else would take him. He was the kind of single-minded zealot who would have perhaps fared better in the Immaculate Order than with the army, more of a liability than an asset when it came to dealing with ordinary people.

The half-baked plan that I'd concocted, using Three Pearls and Dorian Gray to get petty revenge on Quill for deceiving me was suddenly seemed a lot less important and a lot riskier. If our old legion had found us already, Roach and I were going to need as many friends as we could get… meglomaniacal Eclipse Castes included.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again!" Viper snapped. "I have a right to run my business as I see fit! This establishment is _legal_. I have a business license from the Guild. They know _exactly_ what I do here, and The Emissary himself has signed off on it. You still got a problem, you take it up with him!"

Roach groaned and started to sit up, obviously oblivious to who it was that had just come into the bar.

"Down, boy!" Viper scolded.

"Cockroach?" Yarati blinked in disbelief.

"Shit!" Roach cursed, flipping off the bar and falling flat on his face.

"Search the place!" Yarati ordered. "The Anathema is here!"

I didn't waste a moment. As I turned the corner, I scooped up Amira and ran for the nearest window with her in my arms.

"Damnit, Loren, what's gotten into you?" She demanded, hammering on my back with her fists.

"There's a Wyld Hunt downstairs!" I shouted as Veritas stepped out of the bath wearing nothing but a towel.

Veritas paled and took off running. From his room, I heard his construct exclaim "Uh oh!"

"We'd better split up. Everyone for themselves!" Amira decided, prying my hands off of her. "We stand a better chance of eluding them if we all go different ways."

"Should we meet back at my warbird?" Veritas suggested.

I had no idea how he'd dressed so quickly, but I suspected that there was some kind of sorcery involved.

"There are more places to hide inside this city than outside of it. We'll meet at the Bridge of Whispers after dark." Amira decided.

"And what about Roach?" I demanded.

"Those Dragonbloods have already got him!" Amira shook her head. "But it's you they're really after, so get out of here now!"

I didn't waste another moment. I went right out the window and leapt across the street onto the roof of another whorehouse with a large balcony which bore the name "The An-Tang Princess".

Soldiers followed me on the streets below, shouting and pointing. Arrows whizzed in my direction. Since I didn't have a weapon on hand, I instinctively threw my arms up in front of my chest, figuring that it was better to risk a broken bone than a gut wound that might kill me. Words flowed unbidden from my tongue and the arrows glanced harmlessly off my skin. Evidently, all of my secret training had paid off, I'd instinctively used a Charm to protect myself.

Stealth was impossible then. Though the mark on my brow wasn't burning, my skin glowed like new bronze. I thought maybe I had sufficient speed to escape my pursuers without killing anyone, but then Yarati landed effortlessly on the roof across from me.

Of course, a Dragonblood would also be able to use Charms... to one of them, a twenty foot leap was child's play.

All my life, I'd been secretly jealous of those like Yarati - who never practiced and yet so easily succeeded where I had failed over and over again. It was Essence that gave them such mastery, a thing I had thought I would never possess myself. I'd believed for so long that their birthright made them my inherent superiors… but by the rationale of any Dynast, the strength to prevail would be granted to those who were Enlightened and morally righteous. And if strength alone was proof of divine favor as I had always been taught, then why should I cower before a Dragonblooded when I was far stronger than any of them could ever hope to be?

I effortlessly leapt to meet Yarati, something that definitely would have been impossible for any mere mortal. We stared at one another for a long moment.

"I always knew there was something wrong with you!" Yarati laughed slightly. "But to think, all of this time you've been hiding amongst us, a serpent in our camp!" He'd been one of the officers upset by my hard-earned promotion. Personally, I'd always felt that he lacked the discipline to lead, just as my brother Jaret had. I was afraid, and the idea of killing a man I had once served with did not sit well with me. Of course, behaving like a wounded prey animal would do nothing to strengthen my position.

"I was trying to protect all of you!" I snapped. "I'm no monster, Yarati... and you damn well know that! As a matter of fact, when I first came to the Winds, I believe it was you who said that I didn't have enough backbone to kill anyone."

"Times have changed, clearly." He replied.

"Yes, they have." I agreed. "I'm not afraid of you. I've seen you for what you are." Of course, I was still conflicted somewhat... I did not believe my father or Mnemon Rai to be anything less than exemplary men, but I was beginning to suspect that they were a rarity amongst the Dragonblooded rather than the norm. Living a life of unearned privilege cultivates evil in the soul like nothing else can.

"I shall gladly kill you, Anathema!" Yarati sneered. He tried to strike at me and I dodged his blade.

"What, aren't you going to use your demon powers on me?" Yarati demanded.

"As I've been trying to tell you, I'm not a demon!" I replied.

He swung at me again and I stopped his blade on my forearm, just as I had stopped the hail of arrows sent upon me before. There was a telling flash of gold, but it was gone like an exploding firework before anyone on the ground could have seen it. Yarati cursed as I effortlessly disarmed him, seized him by the throat and held him over the edge of the rooftop over the street. His men turned their bows on me but did not fire.

"I want you to remember this moment, and I want you to think about it. I want you to think long and hard! Right now I could kill you. It would be very, very easy and with the way that you've always treated me, I can't say that I wouldn't enjoy it just a little. But I am not going to do it! I want you to have to tell everyone that I didn't kill you when I damn well could have!"

"I am still the same Cathak Loren! My father is a Dragonlord and I was raised as a Dynast! I served with you and Sesus Calil! I earned the right to be named your commanding officer! I recruited the men now in your Talon when they were first walking out the doors of Paisap's Stair! How many times did I draw my sword to guard your back in all the years that we fought together? That's how many times you could have been dead. Think about that, and believe me when I say that I am not your enemy!"

"Lies!" Yarati spat. "You're a demon! Every word you speak is a lie! "

"You want to talk about lies?" I lowered my eyes for a moment, reminding myself that I really didn't want to break Yarati's neck, even though he probably deserved it and I could easily have done so. I hadn't been forced to kill anyone after taking on the Red Queen and her Fae army, and if I could escape the entirety of the Ravenous Winds without drawing my sword once, I wasn't about to let less than a dozen men force me to bloodshed.

"Let me tell you about some _lies_." Despite the panic that I knew I would cause, I called up the mark on my brow so that Yarati could see it. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "The word you're looking for isn't "Anathema", it's _Solar_. Get used to it."

Very slowly, I set him on his feet, squeezing his windpipe just enough that he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. I stopped for a little longer than I should have. There was something about seeing my old tormentor, a Dragonblood on his knees, looking up at me in abject terror that brought me crashing back into the role of my former self with a force that almost made me dizzy.

"And get used to that position too." I knew I had made my point, I'd said and done more than enough... but Heaven help me, lording over that fool was tremendously satisfying. I was reminded of Veritas's callous words. What had he said that the Dragonbloods were?

_Slaves __and __cannon __fodder._At that moment, though not for the first time, I was a little afraid of myself.

Still, before Yarati could recover or order his men to regroup, I'd run most of the way across rooftops to the edge of the Nighthammer District where I hoped the smoke of the forges would hide me. I sat in an alcove and watched barges drifting down the river until I was certain that no one was following after me.

Then I climbed down a drain pipe and decided to find somewhere to wait until dark. I worried incessantly about Amira and Veritas, and particularly Roach who couldn't exactly defend himself. I hated that I had left him behind, but I couldn't deny that Amira was right... there was no way Yarati would allow any harm to come to such a valuable prisoner. He probably suspected that Roach had been my accomplice all along, and was parley to many more of my "secrets" than he actually was.

I hoped they wouldn't do anything drastic to try to coax information out of him and racked my brain to think of any weakness I could exploit in the Wind's camp.

I traded my clothes to a beggar who seemed surprised that I wanted to give him a perfectly good shirt in exchange for his ratty hooded cloak, but I knew for certain that the only way I was getting back into Harlotry would be in disguise. For good measure, I rubbed ash and river muck on my face and arms until I stank like the dead. Everyone on the street gave me a wide berth, and I knew my ruse was working.

I smiled slightly to myself as I thought of how both Roach and Amira had accused me of being incapable of subterfuge. Little did they know, but no Solar hides in The Imperial City for the better part of ten years without acquiring a certain mastery of appearing lowly and insignificant. My disguise seemed to have its desired effect on the members of the Winds who were still loitering around Anathema's, but as I reached the bridge I heard a familiar snicker and realized that Amira was not fooled. At fist I didn't see her, but then a soot gray dog of nondescript origins bounded across my path. Not far away, another muck-covered beggar sat, holding out a tin cup for alms. I sat beside him without hesitation, as if the two of us together would attempt to ward off the growing cold. Amira bounded over to Veritas and watched him with interest, wagging her tail innocently. He tried to shoo her away, but I decided to scratch her behind the ears. She immediately flopped on her back and put her belly in the air. It was so easy to believe that she was a dog that I had to remind myself that I was actually dealing with a brilliant and dangerous woman who would never let me live down anything that I said or did, not in a thousand years.

"You smell awful. Worse than your dog." Veritas whispered after the soldiers passed us by.

"You're no rosebud yourself. What did you roll in? Do I want to know?" I retorted.

"So... not bad for two Lords of Creation on their first day in the big city, eh, Faeslayer?" Veritas smirked, elbowing me. He spoke casually in Old Realm. Just hearing that language left me feeling transported.

"Sun-in-Glory, Recluse... was that actually a joke?" I replied in Old Realm myself, using his peculiar dramatic oath. It felt right, somehow, like something I'd always said - which I suspected that it was. I sighed heavily and looked out over the brown river. I could remember how the valley had looked once, and seeing it in such a state made me feel very old and very tired.

"I used to come to this bridge all of the time when I still lived down in Glassmaker's Alley." Veritas admitted. "It's one of the few pieces of architecture in this city that actually dates from our time."

Our time. How _right _that sounded!

"I wish I could remember things like you do." He mused.

"Well, the river was three times wider than it is now." I pointed. "And blue, a perfect, cerulean blue. The first dam was over there, where that cliff has collapsed into the water. All the fields were green. No swamp rice back then!" I laughed. "No ironworks either. That would have been... unsophisticated. This was supposed to be our pastoral paradise. An escape from all the hustle and bustle of Meru."

"Ah, Meru!" Veritas paused. "What was it like?"

"Like everything you can imagine. And so much more." I replied.

"I don't know how you tolerate it." Veritas admitted. "I thought you were lucky at first, but now I'm beginning to wonder. How can you live in this filth when you can remember how it used to be? I've only read about the past and the present disgusts me! After those meddling Sidereals tinkered with my brains, I woke up wanting to kill them all... and they even warned me before they started that I might not like what I remembered! How did we fall so far?"

"I ask myself that same question every day." I admitted. "I wish I had an answer for you."

"Although I must say, Faeslayer, that bit on the roof this morning, with you and the Dragonblood? Spectacular! I'm still not sure why you didn't drop him, but part of me almost enjoyed it more, just watching him squirm." Veritas smirked.

"You're venomous sometimes, you know that?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I did get the name "Recluse" for a reason, both in my past life and in this one." He replied with a self-satisfied smirk. "It was originally because I hid from the whole world, but with some of the things I've learned lately..." He sighed heavily. "Well, I suppose you might say I've discovered incentive to use my fangs."

Amira sighed in exasperation, butting between the two of us. I hadn't noticed when she changed back to her usual self, but she looked absolutely idiotic lying on the ground staring up at me in the exact same position she had occupied in her dog form.

"We should start looking for Roach now." I paused, guessing already that neither Veritas nor Amira would be happy to hear that I wanted to put all of us back into the fire we'd only narrowly escaped.

"Why?" Amira demanded.

"Because I'm not leaving him in Yarati's hands. That man is a fiend. He's cruel for no reason and he hates Roach with a passion... almost as much as he hates me." I finished. "And so I'm going for him, with or without your help."

"I suppose you have a plan?" Veritas wondered.

"I don't know the situation yet. But I suspect that we'll have to trick our way into the Wind's camp and probably fight our way out." I admitted.

"I could turn you in?" Amira grinned wickedly. With a slight gesture, she changed her appearance, taking the face and form of a male Fire-Aspect Dragonblood. I tried to shake off how familiar she looked and wondered, not for the first time... how closely she had followed me when I first returned to the Blessed Isle.

"And then what?" I demanded, trying to underplay the fact that Amira was standing over the two of us impersonating a man, and a Dragonblood at that! I wasn't sure which was more disturbing.

"Have you ever heard of a little knack called Mountainous Spirit Expression?" She asked.

Veritas blanched. It was obvious that he had a better idea of what Amira had "planned" than I did, and he didn't look exactly thrilled by her proposal.

"Please, tell me that you're not actually suggesting that we give ourselves up to the Wyld Hunt while you change yourself into some bloody enormous monster and stomp Mnemon Rai's entire camp?" Veritas exploded. "Faeslayer, your dog is insane!"

"Oh, shut it! I'm not a dog and you damn well know it!" Amira snapped, resuming her usual form. "Frankly, I don't know why we're going after Roach like this, all firewands-a-blazing!" Amira snorted. "It's risky, and it's not like he's in any real danger. We all that Mnemon Rai won't execute your lackey. It's you he's after."

"Roach is not my lackey! He's not my pet or anything else like that either! He _was _my student, but that was more than ten years ago!" I sighed. I'd lost track of how many times I'd made that argument and it still didn't seem to hold any weight. "Now he's my best friend and he's only in this mess because of me!" I replied stiffly.

"I suppose that's that. But if we are going to rescue Roach, we need to go about it intelligently. I personally object to Heartsblood's plan, on account of it being suicidal." Veritas replied.

"I second that." I nodded.

"You've got a better idea?" Amira demanded.

"I might." I took a deep breath. "But the three of us can't pull it off alone. We're going to need help."

"Well, we've got Viper." Amira volunteered. "She's still beating herself up about letting the Wyld Hunt walk out of her bar with Roach in tow. Of course, if she'd put up too much of a fight they would have gotten wise and arrested her too. And um... I love Viper dearly, but she really doesn't do subtle."

"When I said "help", I was actually thinking more specifically about Quill." I admitted.

"Oh!" Amira exclaimed, covering her mouth to conceal the gleeful grin that spread across her face as she realized what I was suggesting.

"Oh?" Veritas pressed.

"Quill is going to turn me in to Yarati like Amira suggested. I sincerely doubt that Yarati has told Old Thunderstormer that he's captured anyone yet. Yarati is going to wait until he's got me... because only that will make him the big hero." I explained. "He wants to use Roach to draw me out himself."

"Hm. I don't understand. Why is it Quill who turns you in and not Amira?" Veritas pressed. "I feel compelled to say this, but I trust him somewhat less than I trust her." He jerked his thumb at Amira who beamed.

"Well, after what I've just seen her do, I think that Amira should pretend to be Quill's superior. Maybe an ousted Gens of Lookshy, to give Yarati another reason to be a little paranoid while dealing with her. We'll say she's a Taimyo, but we won't actually give her a name. That way, everybody will be watching her, trying to guess who the Dragonblooded who subdued the terrible demon really is. Of course, she'll insist that Quill do the negotiating, because well, it's beneath her to personally deal with someone like Yarati. He may be a Dragonblood, but he's got no political clout whatsoever. He was born to a patrician family and adopted by House Ledaal… who mostly consider him to be a lousy investment." I continued.

"How do you know all of this?" Veritas demanded.

"I handled Mnemon Rai's paperwork for years. I can tell you anything you want to know about every last member of the Winds. If we're going to have a Wyld Hunt on our trail, we couldn't ask for an easier one to exploit." I informed him. "I don't know why I never realized this before, but there certainly are a lot of weak links in that chain of command."

"Are you sure that you're not Night Caste?" Veritas raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"You both know I can't lie for anything. This will work much better if I don't do any talking at all. See, what it basically boils down to is that Quill, speaking on behalf of Amira is going to ask for a trade. Roach for me." I explained.

"A known Solar in exchange for one turncoat mortal soldier? That's preposterous, no one will believe it!" Veritas protested.

"Well, Yarati doesn't want everyone in Nexus to know I'm here already or he'll have competition coming after my head. I'm sure Mnemon Rai has forbidden all of The Winds from telling anyone what I am, though _why_ is something I'm still trying to sort out. And Amira's also going to want a huge pile of money." I paused. "But she's also going to be insistent on getting Roach out of the deal because she's... very, very fond of him. Of course, Roach is going to freak out because he's got no idea who this huge, hairy man is. Recluse, you stay just as you look now... a filthy, nasty beggar. You'll wait outside Yarati's tent and harass any soldiers who start poking around too close to the rest of us. Roach will be handed over to Amira, I'll be handed over to Yarati. Then Quill will insist that Yarati makes this whole thing a gentleman's agreement... nothing in writing, which is how Yarati wants it anyway. Quill will ask Yarati to promise that "himself", "his employer" and "his employer's lover" will be allowed to return to the city unmolested. Yarati will think Roach is "the lover" and he will _adore_ that because he despises Roach. But since Amira is our "employer", her lover would technically be _me_."

"Of course, Yarati will insist that we don't tell Old Thunderstormer that we ever talked, so we'll all agree that none of us present will say anything about what's transpired. We'll swear that we never met, that no money changed hands and no prisoners were ever set free. Quill and Yarati will shake on it... and then we all walk out. Yarati will be too stunned to do anything, and if he doesn't give a direct order... well, let's just say that none of the men who serve under him are the type that want to be heroes."

"Just one problem." Veritas paused. "How do you know that Quill will go along with this? You're asking him to reveal himself as a Solar to one of the officers of the largest Wyld Hunt in the Scavenger Lands."

"Who will then be bound under Heaven to deny that he ever paid him off or let us all go? Quill will do it." I smiled slightly, certain of my guess. "He's going to think it's hysterical."


	4. Chapter 4 - More Mischief

**Chapter 4 – More Mischief**

"So that's the plan." I finished, after telling Quill everything that I had worked out in my head. Veritas, Amira, and I had gone to meet Quill at his official "office" on the edge of the Big Market, a ramshackle old building filled to the brim with stacks of disorganized paperwork and expired permits.

The state of the place was absolutely terrifying until one realized that Quill had deliberately created the mess specifically to keep the public expectation of forward progress at an absolute minimum. He had lovingly cultivated an environment of bureaucratic futility in his workplace and had thereby ensured his own job security for centuries to come. Being a sometimes paper-pusher myself, I was left in awe of deviousness and somewhat shocked by his apathy.

"What do you think?" I pressed. "Are you in?"

Quill mused over everything he had heard for a moment and then a grin spread across his face. "It's _hysterical_! I love it! I love it, I love it!" He paused. "Though I do seem to remember that you were supposed to be doing a job for _me_?"

"This has nothing to do with that. Our previous agreement still stands. I'll investigate Nagezzer for you and find out anything I can about girls being sold. Believe me, I don't want _anyone_ in the hands of the fae." I shook my head heavily. "But we've got to help Roach first before Yarati turns him over to Mnemon Rai. Old Thunderstormer is not someone you want to match wits with. He'd see through this ruse in a heartbeat. Fortunately for us, Yarati is too obsessed with his own status to even look at anyone who isn't a Dragonblood. He'll fall for it."

"There's some risk involved, obviously." Veritas hesitated for a moment. I could tell he still had some misgivings. I had a few myself, but I was more worried about what would happen to Roach if we didn't act right away than I was worried about saving my own skin. "Our "story" has more than a few holes." He admitted.

"Have you ever heard the phrase "Good enough for government work?" If the people you're dealing with are fools, it doesn't have to be _perfect_!" Quill argued. A spark of recognition lit suddenly in his eyes. "Gods, no wonder all of this sounds so familiar! You're Perfect, aren't you!" He exclaimed, turning to Veritas.

"That was my name once." Veritas smiled slightly, obviously pleased to be recognized as his previous self.

"Which must mean… Faeslayer?" Quill's normally broad grin widened considerable. "Hah! So the rumors were true!"

"Rumors?" I raised an eyebrow skeptically in his direction.

"The Fae are in a state of panic. I haven't seen them so disorganized in a very long time! There isn't much that they are afraid of, and even less that they respect." Quill explained. "And let me tell you, all of the jabbering I've heard has left me absolutely convinced that you are the most terrifying thing ever to walk the face of Creation. Since the Great Contagion they've made leaps and bounds, expanding back into the lands your previous incarnation once chased them out of. They're afraid that they're going to lose everything they've gained. Heh. That is what you're planning, isn't it?"

"To kill as many fair folk as I possibly can? More or less." I nodded.

"Well, normally I would say that you were being a bit hasty… but frankly, I'm feeling a little more courageous than usual, especially now that I know they've taken Sapphire prisoner. And with the old Society's coming back together..." He paused. "Let me tell you, I am _sick __to __death _of having The Red Queen poking around this city and would not object at all to seeing her tossed back into the Deep Wyld for the Unshaped to gnaw on." Quill replied brightly. "Ah, it is a bit like old times, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid that I don't actually remember you." I admitted. It seemed strange to say such a thing. The more I spoke with him, the more I knew him… and yet at the same time, I didn't know him at all. "Who were you in the past? Many-Starred Cloak?" I suggested, using the name of the Eclipse Caste who had been a member of the same circle as Perfect and Alexander during the First Age. It was only natural that his new incarnation would have found its way to Nexus just as the two of us had.

"Several lifetimes ago. I hold the dubious distinction of being the most-often slain member of our Circle. I'd prefer that you just call me Quill." He replied. "Though I suppose you could use my old moniker from The Society… that is, if you remember it." Veritas and I glanced at one another momentarily. There was a familiarity surrounding Quill that both of us could sense, but neither of us seemed to remember what his nickname had been in the past.

"Heh. Looks like the tables have turned, Circlemates! You two old folks are now the young'uns and me, the kid… now older than both of you." Quill laughed, putting an arm around each of us. "I might be enjoying this, just a little."

"And just how old are you?" I demanded. He looked about thirty, but from what I had learned about the average lifespan of Solar Exalts, I knew that didn't mean anything at all.

"Irrelevant. I can't remember anyway. Now you were saying something before about utterly humiliating a bunch of Dragonbloods. I'm afraid I'm rather fixated on _that!_" Quill smirked, resting his chin on his folded hands. A jester's cap would not have looked out of place on his head and I wondered briefly if getting him involved would turn out to be a tremendous mistake.

I had another thought also, but before I could say a word, Veritas spoke for me.

"You mentioned the Three Circles Society?" Veritas pressed.

"But of course!" Quill exclaimed. "I've heard you two bantering! "Faeslayer" this, "Recluse" that! If Shadowsbane and Heart-of-Gold were here, I'd have to strangle myself! Fifteen hundred years and it's as if no time has passed at all!" He laughed.

"So you were a sorcerer too?" I hazarded a guess.

"I'm not a sorcerer anymore?" Quill eyed me skeptically. "Well, that's news to me, considering that I was one this morning."

"You _are _a sorcerer too?" Veritas observed. "Good. Perhaps you can help me convince Faeslayer that he needs to begin studying The Art. How far have you mastered?"

"Far enough." Quill replied with a smug smile on his face.

"Sapphire Circle?" Veritas pressed.

Quill only pointed at the ceiling.

"No!" Veritas protested. "Sun-in-Glory, you can actually do it? Adamant Circle Sorcery? With power like that… you could terraform pure chaos!"

"Why, my dear Circlemates… who do you think keeps all the Wyld in this city inside of Firewander?" Quill laughed. Taking us each by the arm again, he walked us into the nearest bar.

I can't remember the rest of the conversation that Quill and I had that evening, but sometime before midnight I found that I had a sick sort of feeling weighing heavily on my heart. I suspected that Quill had probably convinced both Veritas and myself to do all kinds of things we were going to regret. As charismatic as he was, he was also dangerous and none of us really knew anything about him.

According to Amira, Solars had only started returning in large numbers in the year that I was born, after the disappearance of The Scarlet Empress. Judging by his apparent age, I reasoned that Quill could have Exalted when I did myself, more than ten years past. I wasn't surprised that he treated me like a child. Veritas did the same thing, and he'd been a Solar for less than a year himself.

I fought the urge to silence both of them by using what I really knew. It was easier to pretend that I had been deep in denial than it was to explain that I'd spent a decade reliving all the important parts of my life as Alexander Faeslayer.

More frightfully still, there was a rumor that certain Solars had actually escaped the Usurpation. Veritas confessed that one he knew, a woman called "Windswept Rhapsody" who was more than a century old. The fact that Quill claimed to have mastered Adamant Circle Sorcery was troubling enough, especially since he had proven himself to be every bit as mad and reckless as I had feared he might be.

Since timing was crucial, the four of us decided to put our plan into action before the sun came up. Quill had decided that the event called for a drink and had bought himself more bottles of wine than any being, mortal or otherwise, had any business consuming over the course of one night. He was still nursing the last bottle as he staggered into Yarati's tent, Amira marching along behind him with me in chains. The chains had come from one of Viper's so-named "play-rooms" and were not nearly as strong as they appeared, which would be advantageous to us if things went south and ended in an actual fight. As planned, Veritas had resumed his filthy beggar guise and was demanding coins from any soldier who came too close to him, smudging something too foul to consider on the hems of their crisp blue and white uniforms.

"What's this?" Yarati demanded, obviously caught off guard as we entered.

"I've caught a demon. I hear you've been looking for one." Amira replied, sounding exactly how she appeared… like a middle-aged Dynast who carried a little extra weight.

Yarati smiled as he saw me. I scowled at him.

"Not so arrogant now, are we?" Yarati taunted. "You know, you _were_ a good soldier once, but you are a pathetic Anathema! Captured by one old man?"

Amira frowned. Since her very mission in life seemed to follow me wherever I went, she obviously disliked hearing my growing "reputation" belittled.

"Ahem." Quill cleared his throat. "My employer, The Taimyo will not be addressed as "Old Man". He finds this term objectionable. You will not use it again, or he will go directly to your commanding officer with his prisoner." Whether it was because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed, or because he thought it would add to the character he was playing, Quill drunkenly staggered into Yarati's desk. When Yarati grimaced, Amira cleared her throat again.

"My apologies, Taimyo." Yarati paused. "You had an offer for me?"

"One that my employer thinks you will not refuse." Quill replied. "You have in your possession a certain young Southerner whom I believe you are holding because of a peculiar connection he has to this Anathema that my employer has captured. My employer wishes to trade the Anathema for this young man."

"Roach?" Yarati blinked in disbelief.

"And of course, a substantial finder's fee." Quill finished.

"How much does he want?" Yarati asked.

Quill turned to Amira, the two of them conversed briefly and in a very serious tone… and then Quill wrote some number on a scrap of paper and showed it to Yarati. I did not see how much it said, but I suspected from Yarati's reaction that it was a fairly big number.

"Thirty percent?" He suggested.

"Absurd!" Quill barked in protest.

"Forty?" Yarati looked nervous.

"Fifty! No less!" Quill finished. "A gentleman's agreement, then? Shall we shake on it?"

"Not so fast." Yarati shook his head. "If word of this gets out… I'm not sure how it will be perceived."

"We'll swear to secrecy then. Since you currently have us at a disadvantage, you'll promise that my employer, myself, and my employer's... _lover_ may leave your camp peacefully without being fired upon or followed. You'll guarantee our safe return to Nexus. And we'll all agree that none of us present here will say anything about what's transpired. We'll swear that we never met, that no money changed hands and no prisoners were ever set free." Quill recited. "Do you agree to the terms?"

"I do." Yarati nodded, taking Quill's hand. He must have noticed that something was wrong immediately because he tried to pull away. I knew from experience that Quill had an iron grip.

"Then let ours be an honorable oath, sealed under Heaven." He smirked. Yarati stared in horror at the mark which appeared on his brow.

"Anathema? Seize them!" Yarati shouted.

Not a soul moved. Quill wagged a disapproving finger at the Dragonblood. "Not so fast! We're bound now, you and I! I trust that you know the consequences of breaking such an oath?"

Yarati paled.

"Right then, come along, Faeslayer!" Quill bowed dramatically. I effortlessly broke the chain on my cuffs and went to join him.

"What's the meaning of this?" Yarati demanded. "Who the hell are you, Taimyo, that you associate with demons?"

Amira resumed her usual appearance. "Boo!" She replied with a wicked smirk. "C'mon boys, off we go!"

True to their commander's oath, not one of Yarati's men attempted to follow us or shoot at us. But long after we made it through the city gates, I could still hear them cursing. Veritas wore a very smug smile on his face. His construct giggled, obviously enjoying the trouble we'd just caused.

"You know." Quill said, as we parted ways in the Big Market. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Within moments he was gone.

"We should not trust him." Godchaser announced. The construct didn't say much normally – at least not in my presence, though I often heard Veritas jabbering with her nonstop in Old Realm when the rest of us were busy.

"Your construct is right." I agreed, turning to Veritas. "Quill is a madman and he is going to get us all killed."

"All the more reason to investigate Nagezzer as soon as possible and get you out of his oath." Amira nodded solemnly.

Roach smiled slightly.

"What?" I demanded.

"You guys rescued me." He replied.

"You didn't think we would?" I put my hands on my hips, doing a fair impression of my Mnemon Rai when he felt compelled to lecture one someone. Roach laughed.

"Don't be stupid, Boss. I know you goaded the rest of them into it!" He jerked his thumb at Amira. "I was just thinking that I'd better stick close to you from now on. I know it's going to be dangerous, but..."

"But?" Veritas raised an eyebrow at Roach.

"After what happened back there?" Roach laughed. "They're going to think _I'm __one __of __you_. No one will ever believe that three Solars came to rescue one mere mortal!"

"That's because most people don't know a damned thing about us." Veritas paused. "If I have to chose between myself and someone who's done nothing wrong, I'll protect the innocent every time."

"That's an interesting vow, coming from you, Perfect." Amira observed.

"You don't know a damned thing about me either, Heartsblood." He retorted. "I'm not the same person I used to be."

Amira glanced around to be sure that no one was listening in on us. "We shouldn't all stay together, at least not until this whole thing blows over. I'm going let Viper know we're all in one piece. Try finding beds somewhere in Fishmarket or Glassmaker's. I'll see you all in the morning at the bridge." Without another word, she kissed me, changed into her stray dog form and bounded away.

Veritas shrugged and struck out on his own. Roach glanced up at me hopefully, as if I had a plan.

"Looks like it's just you and me." I told him.

He punched me in the shoulder. "Right behind you, Boss."

Dawn on the Bridge of Whispers was something not to be missed. Though Roach was annoyed by my desire to get up before the sun, he grudgingly admitted that it did paint a beautiful picture as it rose over the river and started to wake all of Nexus. I tried to hide the fact that there were tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. It felt like a very long time since my morning on the mountaintop when I'd stood in the presence of the sun and first began to question whether I was damned or Chosen.

Now that I was certain of the latter, I could feel those early morning rays pouring through and warming every corner of my soul as if I were made of glass. It also seemed like a long time since I'd last dreamt of the First Age. Had those dreams of mine been meant to drive me to the life I was now living? Would I never again see the world as I remembered it so clearly? As if to answer my question, the sun's light caught the river in a peculiar way, making it look almost blue again. If I wanted to bring back that glorious world, I'd have to do more than wish for it. I'd have to work until my own hands bled and make it so.

Veritas arrived first, sipping a cup of coffee. He rested his elbows on the bridge rail and looked out over the river himself. Godchaser sighed dramatically and he didn't bother to scold her. Though he usually twitched and looked irate when she revealed herself in public, it would have been a disservice to the Unconquered Sun to start fighting when he was in the midst of painting such a lovely scene for the three... or "four" of us, counting the construct, to witness.

Amira arrived an hour later with a grin on her face and two fresh, hot loaves of bread. It seemed like it had been a very long time since I'd eaten anything and I must have wolfed down more than my fair share because Veritas eyed me with disapproval. After our breakfast, we agreed to infiltrate Nagezzer's compound in the evening. Viper had informed Amira that "The Slug" was throwing a party. If we all posed as guests, we could potentially conduct our investigation without drawing any attention at all to ourselves. With our plan set out, we parted ways again.

It was early evening, not quite sunset when the four of us met up again near the wall surrounding Nagezeer's compound. Even though his warehouse loomed over us, we had to take extra care to avoid being seen. There were a number of people gathering for the party that "The Slug" was hosting, which was why Viper had suggested that we plan our assault sometime before full dark. The more bodies that were mulling about, the better chance we had to hide ourselves if things didn't go according to plan.

"Roach and I will check out the main house. Veritas, you look in the warehouse for anything fae-tainted or anything you think might be a weapon. Amira, you're our eyes and ears out here. Make yourself a bird or something. If it looks like trouble is coming, raise the alarm."

Amira grinned broadly. I did not doubt that whatever she did to warn the rest of us would be loud and unmistakable.

"We'll meet back here in twenty minutes. If anyone doesn't come back by full dark, we'll assume that they've been captured." I finished.

Like thieves into the night, we scattered.

Thanks to Roach, getting into the party was much easier than I'd expected. Plenty of the men attending were mercenaries. Roach and I casually followed in the footsteps of one arrogant-looking Bronze Pioneer with a large retinue and pretended to be busy as we passed through the gates. Picking up some crates, we then became the "assistants" of the evening's entertainment, carrying instruments and racks of costumes into the house. No one asked us anything. They assumed, probably because we were speaking High Realm and working, that we belonged in the Dynast's house.

While getting into the house had been simple enough, the security outside of the areas designated for the party was much trickier. To distract a guard standing in front of one of the doors that led upstairs, Roach took a handful of pebbles and started flicking them down the hall. When the man moved to investigate the source of the noise, the two of us slipped behind him.

Though we knew we were looking for evidence of the girls or the fae, it was difficult to find either. There were a large number of women living in Nagezzer's house, but even the one that Roach and I initially thought was a prisoner turned out to be chained to the wall for "entertainment purposes" and not at all upset about her situation.

It was very nearly time for us to meet back with Veritas and Amira when we stumbled across a cracked door on the third floor. There were several men inside, all dressed in the colors of House Sesus. Sitting in front of them on a red plush couch was a hideously obese old Dragonblood, a Wood-Aspect whom I did not doubt was Sesus "The Slug" Nagezzer. He puffed on his pipe and narrowed his beady little eyes at his underlings, looking annoyed.

"Well?" He demanded.

"We delivered the new girl to the bakery as you ordered, sir." The first of the men admitted. "But..." He began.

"She give you trouble? I suspected she might. I've heard things about that Shadowsbane. With what the whores all say about her... you'd think she would have been harder to catch." The Slug sighed.

"That's just the thing, sir." The second guard shook his head. "She was no trouble at all. Walked all nice like, even though she didn't have no shoes on. It was almost as if she wanted us to take her inside."

"That's nonsense. You're giving that woman far too much credit. Shadowsbane may be a spitfire, but she knows damn well that she doesn't stand a chance against The Red Queen." The Slug scoffed.

"And what should we do about Three Pearls, sir? She's been asking questions." The first man asked.

"Tell her nothing. She can't prove that we took her daughter and I don't need that witch breathing down my neck." The Slug replied. "This will all be over soon enough. Now see to the animal and report back to me."

I'd heard enough. Careful not to give away our location, Roach and I ran back to meet Veritas and Amira behind the warehouse. When they weren't at our appointed meeting place, I decided to pry the doors open just slightly to see if they were still inside. I saw them immediately, Amira in her dog form and Veritas right beside her, hiding behind a crate. Looking like a ghost, his construct poked her head out to see whatever they were looking at.

"Maker?" She whispered.

"Quiet, Godchaser!" Veritas scolded.

Standing in the aisle of the warehouse before a set of enormous doors was a very old Water-Aspect Dragonblood. He was dressed all in black with strings of pearls around his neck and gold rings on every one of his fingers. He also had more weapons on his person than I could count. I suspected right away that he was a professional rogue of one stripe or another. The fact that he'd taken out two House Sesus guards with one of his arms in a sling meant that he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, my entrance proved not to be very stealthy. The Dragonblood immediately noticed Roach and I standing in the doorway and then caught sight of Godchaser.

"Heh." The Dragonblood smirked. "Veritas?"

"Oh, Maker! It's Jing Wei!" Godchaser exclaimed.

"Jing Wei?" Veritas seemed equally surprised. He stood up and walked towards the Dragonblood but didn't go for a weapon. Obviously the two of them were well acquainted. "What are you doing here?"

"Investigating "The Slug"." He remarked with distaste. "Word has it, he's up to something unscrupulous."

"Since when have you cared about anyone keeping their hands clean, _pirate_?" Veritas taunted.

"Feh! Why are you here, _demon_? Mysterious Anathema business?" Jing Wei retorted, a smile on his face.

I was stunned. The Dragonblood _knew_ that Veritas was a Solar and they were friends?

"Same reason as you." I replied, butting my way into their conversation. "Sesus Nagezzer has been kidnapping girls. He's been turning them over to the Red Queen who has them locked up in some place that everyone keeps calling "the bakery". It can't be far from here. They tie the girls up and make them walk there."

"I know." Jing Wei gritted his teeth. Apparently he'd gotten the same information we did and he didn't like it either.

"Well, we'd better hurry and do whatever it is we're going to do. The Slug's men will be here any minute to feed that animal." I finished, staring up at the enormous doors in front of us. There was something just beyond them and it was breathing very loudly. It sounded huge. "What is in there anyway?"

Jing Wei explained. "It's called a "Beast of Resplendent Liquids". A cow which produces large quantities of very pure opium instead of milk. If we set loose that animal somewhere nearby where everyone can see it... that will immediately confirm Nagezzer's dealings with the fae. And the resulting fallout should also distract the Red Queen at least long enough for us to get inside her "bakery" and release the girls she's taken."

"Hold on, _we_?" I demanded. After my bargain with Quill, I definitely didn't want to jump into any more agreements with strangers, particular when they wanted to commit a crime.

"I know where the bakery is and I can lead you there, but I'm going to need help to pull this off. The place is swarming with fae, and I'm in no position to fight them right now." Jing Wei admitted grudgingly, gesturing to his arm. "You demons might actually do some damage."

"And considering how we've worked together in past, my friends and I _may_ be willing to help you." Veritas interrupted before I could respond. "Of course, that's going to hedge on you not calling us demons!" He reprimanded. "Sun-in-Glory, you know damned well what we are!"

The old Water Aspect smiled slightly. "That Ping rubbed off on you, didn't she? Where is she at? She'd be a sight for sore eyes tonight. Useful too, in a situation like this."

"I haven't seen her since a few days after we left the Ying Long." Veritas admitted, not looking very happy about the situation Jing Wei had brought up.

"What did I tell you? A woman like that has a scorpion stinger!" Jing Wei sighed.

"All right. Let's get down to business!" Roach rolled up his sleeves. "I'm going to show all you how this is done."

"Oh?" Amira raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"I'm an expert on cattle rustling!" He claimed.

"Roach, you were ten years old when you left the south!" I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, so I never personally stole any cattle! But I'm still Murqai, remember? It's in my blood!" He argued.

Jing Wei laughed. Veritas still seemed concerned, and not only by the mention of "Rhapsody" whom I suspected had been a lover of his.

"So where's Matsu?" Veritas asked the old Dragonblood. The name meant nothing to me, but the expression that crossed Jing Wei's face was unmistakable. Whoever she was, Matsu was very important to him, someone he would do anything to protect.

Jing Wei sighed heavily. "Recluse, why do you think I'm in this mess?"

"I suppose it's no small thing for a Prince of the Earth to willingly work with Anathema." I paused, watching his reaction. "How do we know you won't betray us?"

Jing Wei only shrugged. "I deal in secrets for a living. Everyone has them, and some are worse than others. Better the demon you know." He gestured to Veritas.

"I trust him. Jing Wei will keep his word and he won't be running to the authorities. If possible... I think the Realm hates him more than it hates us." Veritas nodded. "As he says, better the demon you know." He echoed.

"This just keeps getting more and more complicated." I remarked.

Amira wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, Loren!" She sighed heavily. "This is nothing! Just wait until Heaven and the Underworld start making trouble for us."

"But honestly! Can't we solve one problem before we get buried in another one?" I protested.

Veritas patted me on the shoulder. "Of course not. That would be far too easy!"

"Will one of you give us a hand with these doors?" Jing Wei demanded, pulling along with Roach. He stopped short as he noticed that I'd already opened the opposite door by myself. I hadn't even realized that they were heavy.

"Damn you, demons. Making me look bad." He replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Now you four get that cow out of here and into the river. I'm going for my ship. We'll probably need it before this night is through. At least the implosion bows at any rate. Be careful, you! Can't have anyone cutting off your branded head until I rescue my baby girl!" Jing Wei warned Veritas, who sighed heavily. Then he swiftly disappeared into the night.

"How did you two meet?" I asked Veritas.

"Jing Wei helped me escape the Blessed Isle." Veritas replied.

"A good friend then." I observed.

"Not always. When he found out that I was a Solar, he originally wanted to throw me into the sea." Veritas smirked. "But we're past that now."

"That's reassuring." I admitted.

"How so?" Veritas raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"My_ father _is Dragonlord Chiron. I was born into one of the main families of House Cathak." I sighed heavily. "If I'd Exalted myself, I would have been his heir."

Veritas looked extremely surprised at the sound of my father's name, but he said nothing.

"But you _are _Exalted! You're a Solar!" Godchaser protested. Veritas sighed as the construct hovered over in my direction, looking extremely irate.

"And that's why I'm obviously not inheriting anything!" I informed her.

"You'd rather be a Dragonblood?" The construct demanded. Her tone suggested that she couldn't conceive of anything more absurd.

"I never said that!" I argued. Clearly, there was no way to explain to the construct that I did miss my family, and that while I never expected that things would ever return to the way they had been, I still hoped that one day I would be able to speak to Mnemon Rai again. I had come to realize that apart from Roach, he was one of my dearest friends. Amira said nothing, but she gave me a disapproving look.

"There must be something wrong with your brain. You should let my Maker fix you." She decided.

"Godchaser!" Veritas scolded.

"Forget it. Let's just take care of this cow!" I decided. Godchaser led the way into the back of the warehouse. Veritas followed her, Amira and I followed him, and Roach followed us. My eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. I could smell the scent of flowers and something else, a strong animal musk. The sound of the creature chewing its fodder was like the rumble of thunder on the horizon.

"What is that?" I stared up in disbelief at the creature, its legs like tree trunks. It was shackled to the ground with the most impressive set of jade chains that I had ever seen.

Roach cracked his knuckles. "_Moo_." He said.

"How are we getting it out of here?" I demanded. That was when I heard the sound of Nagezzer's men fast approaching. They hadn't arrived as quickly as I expected they would, but they were definitely running now. Someone had heard us arguing - or maybe caught Jing Wei running off.

"We've got company!" I shouted.

"Stall them!" Veritas hissed. He picked up the first length of jade chain and spoke a single word in Old Realm. Essence flared from his fingertips and the chain cracked – but not completely through. "This is going to take a minute!"

I barreled out the doors of the warehouse directly into Nagezzer's men. Not sure what I was running from, they hesitated for a moment and then whirled around and charged after me, yelling obscenities in Rivertongue and High Realm.

I ignored them and effortlessly leapt twenty feet up onto the wall that surrounded the compound. The guards who were already up there almost lost their pikes in shock. They quickly recovered and chased me over to the gate. I looked down at the street below where a small crowd was gathering and then at the men coming after me from all directions.

I jumped. And as I fell, I invoked the Charm that Veritas had taught me. I reached for my daiklave with my mind, calling the blade. One moment I was empty-handed, about to fall fifty feet onto four guards with spears and the next I was landing with a force that cracked the paving stones, clutching the hilt of my extraordinarily ostentatious sword. Though I wasn't flaring with Essence, someone figured out what was going on anyway and started yelling "Anathema".

Half of the men who'd been chasing me turned tail and bolted right away.

That was when the gates behind me came crashing down. There were a lot more men than I expected pouring out of Nagezzer's house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amira in her largest wolf form, biting at the hooves of the cow, which despite its enormous size behaved exactly like any of its ordinary brethren would have, snorting and bellowing. The creature was so large that it tore a piece from the roof with its horns as it stampeded through the gate. Two small figures bounced up and down on the enormous animal's back. One was Veritas, clinging on for dear life.

The second, who held the jade chain wrapped around the animal's horns… was Roach. He rode that enormous beast as if it were a green pony, a wicked and triumphant grin on his face and threw one arm in the air with an incoherent war cry.

"Anathema!" Someone else shouted. I wasn't sure if they were yelling at Amira or me, so I did the only sensible thing I could. I started running myself in the wake of the cow, which was stampeding in the direction of the Bridge of Whispers, clearing the streets of revelers.

On the opposite side of the river, early evening was prime business time for the theater district. More people than I could count witnessed the cow bursting out of Nagezzer's compound. Not wanting the maddened animal to hurt anyone, I gave it a sound slap on the rear with the flat of my daiklave. After launching a mule kick in my general direction and taking out the wall of a nearby building, the beast went where I'd hoped it would, towards the river where Jing Wei had suggested we herd it.

The end of the road was getting closer, and the nearest anchored ship was a good distance away, but I felt as though I could make the jump from the shore to the vessel. Essence began to burn all around me as I poured it into my daring leap.

When I landed on my feet on the deck of the nearest ship, a tremendous splash warned me that my companions had succeeded in driving the cow into the river. A dozen crossbows were pointed at them as the huge beast moaned and snorted, paddling away from the shore.

"Stop where you are, Anathema!" A sailor ordered me. "There's nowhere you can go!"

That was when I saw Veritas, who was standing on the rump of the cow begin shaping a spell. If I'd been burning brightly before, he was impossible to ignore then. Huge tendrils of fire flowed from his fingertips and caught the rigging of the ship I was on. In panic, the crew leapt overboard as their Air-Aspect captain vainly tried to extinguish the flames. He turned slowly to see what all of the commotion was about and stared at me in abject terror. I took advantage of his moment of distraction and threw him into the water.

A second burst of fire suddenly rocked his ship I was on and I saw Veritas sprinting off on the opposite bank of the river.

An enormous, very fast-moving vessel rose up from beneath the waters of the river, blinding everyone on the docks with brilliant blue Essence lights and deafening them with a horn unlike anything I'd ever heard. It was some sort of First Age submersible, as old as the warbirds Veritas had stowed in his manse. The hatch opened with a hiss and there was Jing Wei, standing with his arms crossed and a dozen bushels of poppies behind him.

The only thing that still stood between the cow and Jing Wei was the Bridge of Whispers.

Remembering what Veritas had said about the bridge being designed to raise and lower with Essence, I leapt back the way I'd come, from one burning ship to the next. Ignoring the startled shrieks and shouts of theater-goers, I put my hands on the channels in the marble, willing the bridge to life. It did rise, slowly and painfully… just high enough for Roach to guide the cow underneath it. Essence flared around me, and for a moment I was glowing brighter than Veritas.

Then he cast another spell.

Still eyeing the burning ships nervously, the cow swam in the direction of Jing Wei. I leapt over the whole river to meet Veritas. It didn't matter that the distance was more than a hundred feet. Veritas stood with his arms crossed and watched with smile on his face as Jing Wei landed his ship and the cow obediently boarded, snuffling in the piles upon piles of red poppies. Clambering down from his unusual mount, Roach joined Jing Wei.

"A submersible!" Veritas exclaimed. "Jing Wei, you scoundrel! Where did you steal this ship? What happened to The Ying Long?"

"Sank. This is the Ying Long II!" He replied proudly. "She's somethin', eh?"

"Brilliant!" Veritas agreed.

"Still got a few kinks here and there." Jing Wei added gruffly. "This demon technology takes some getting used to."

"I'll sort her out for you." Veritas volunteered.

"I suppose you could." Jing Wei smiled slightly. "But if you rig anything on this boat to kill me, demon, you'll regret it! I'll haunt you for eternity!"

"Where's Amira?" I wondered.

Of course, the moment I asked that, Amira staggered out of the river on the opposite bank near the Whisper Bridge and shook herself dry. Preposterous as it seemed, no one seemed to notice when the enormous silver wolf shrank down to the size of an ordinary dog and vanished into a nearby alley. There was no sense in worrying about her. If there was one thing that I was absolutely convinced of, it was that Amira was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I also knew that she would find me no matter where I went.

Everyone on the waterfront was staring at Veritas and myself. In fairness, we were both extremely difficult to ignore. The pillar of light around Veritas burned gold, red, and blue. Delicate gears and formed of Essence cascaded all around him. For a moment he looked so much like his previous incarnation that I almost expected to see tendrils of sentient forged gossamer darting out from his sleeves.

From the way Jing Wei shielded his eyes, I guessed that I was glowing just as brightly myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the shapes my Essence formed were of white banners in the wind, spectral soldiers, and charging horses in all the soft colors of the sunrise. Even if no one watching could have possibly made out our faces, Veritas and I could look directly at each other.

"I think we should lie low for a little while." I paused. Really, it sounded like an asinine thing to say.

"Hey, Anathema! You comin' aboard or not?" Jing Wei demanded.

Without hesitation, we both ran aboard the vessel and Jing Wei closed the hatch. Within moments we'd vanished into the murky depths of the river. If anyone tried to follow us, they never guessed where we went.

Despite the fact that we knew we had very little time to rescue the girls that Nagezzer had already sold, it took a good long time for Veritas and I to recover all of the Essence we'd used.

When the both of us finally stopped glowing, Jing Wei surfaced his vessel near the Brood Market. He dumped a few bushels of poppies in the middle of the square and Roach coaxed the cow out. We left the animal with a sign around its neck explaining that it had been liberated from Sesus Nagezzer's compound and that he had acquired it from dealing with the Fae. Generally speaking, Nexus was a town not known for its effective legislation, but the mere fact that the animal produced controlled substances that Nagezzer had not been paying the appropriate taxes on would certainly attract the attention of the Guild.

And most likely, Adamant Quill, who would know that I was in the process of fulfilling our bargain.

Without any other excitement, we parted ways from Jing Wei and followed the directions he gave us, which led us back in the direction of Harlotry. The bakery was not hard to find, and when we arrived Roach and Amira were already waiting for us. I stared up at the doors, hoping that the Red Queen was somewhere else, dealing with Nagezzer and trying to sort out what we'd done with her cow. She'd certainly left enough of her underlings behind to make things difficult for the four of us.

Roach and I gave Veritas a leg up and he peered through a small crack in the top of the door. "Not good." He grimaced. "Fifty goblins, maybe more."

"Fifty-six." Godchaser quipped.

"Any sign of the girls?" I asked.

"No." Veritas admitted.

"No mortals I can sense." Godchaser added.

"What are they doing?" Roach pressed.

"Eh... baking? At least that's what it looks like." Veritas sighed heavily and hopped back down to the ground.

"So now what?" Amira asked, turning to me.

I smiled slightly. "There are no people in there, just fae? Are you sure?"

"Positive." Godchaser nodded.

"That makes this easy." I replied. "Now we break the doors down and kill everything that moves."

Roach gave a low whistle. "Uh, Boss?"

"They're fae!" I protested.

Veritas gave a slight bow and stepped away from the door. "After you, Alexander."

I did not bother to correct him.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Bakery

**Chapter 5 – The Bakery**

The Red Queen was gone. It was time to make my move.

I rose from my bunk without making a sound and slinked like a thief over to the door of my cell. Usually, one of the goblins would cry foul if any of us girls even touched the bars, but our usual guards had gone upstairs for some reason and hadn't returned yet.

It had been more than a week since I'd turned myself in to Sesus Nagezzer's thugs outside of the Sweet Dreams Bakery and allowed them to "sell" me to their mistress, the malevolent fae lord known as the Red Queen. I'd expected to escape captivity on the same night that I was brought into the Red Queen's lair, but that had been before I'd learned just how bad the situation really was.

There weren't only a few girls who'd been picked up by the fae, there were hundreds of them from all over the Scavenger Lands. Most were destined to become slaves, but some were marked down by the Red Queen in a little leather book as "interesting". It had taken me some time to insinuate myself into the "interesting" category without revealing what I was really up to. When the goblins had tossed me into a different, more secure cell and I'd looked up into the familiar faces of my friend Val's daughters, I'd heaved a great big sigh of relief.

The girls had stared at me for a long while, probably thinking that I'd gone mental. Not that I blamed them. Six months ago, I wouldn't have purposefully thrown myself into the hands of the Fae just to get information that I could probably uncover by blackmailing Dragonbloods who were considerably less powerful than the Red Queen and not nearly as likely to eat my eyeballs. But when Tamika and Rose had vanished, I'd thrown my own life on the line without knowing if I would be able to save them at all.

Generally speaking, I don't like seeing any of my friends in trouble. But when it's Val's girls I have to worry about, I get a little bit crazy.

Of course, Tamika and Rose weren't the only "interesting" girls that the Red Queen had gotten her hands on. Also in our cell was my mother's right-hand whore, Keiko Matsura... a young Water-Aspect Dragonblood called Matsu, and recently the infamous Heather Fiore, the very worst professional "actress" in the city of Nexus.

"Sapphire?" Matsu hissed. She'd been watching me like a hawk from the moment I arrived and it was clear that she suspected I was up to something. "What are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here." I replied, seizing one of Heather's hairpins.

"Hey!" Heather protested as her elaborate styled curls collapsed over her face. Of course, I would have picked the most essential pin.

When it comes to Solars, the Dawn Caste are tough, the Twilight Caste are clever, the Zenith Caste are charismatic, and the Eclipse Caste are manipulative and slippery.

Night Caste are agile, stealthy, and really, really lucky. It is very cool to be Night Caste.

Born and raised in a part of Nexus where people generally didn't think much of women, I'd taken it upon myself to use my talents to protect those in need, even if they didn't always appreciate my efforts.

Heather scowled at me, trying to recover her hair. In a fae prison, you'd have thought she'd have more important things to worry about, but that was Heather for you. Over the course of the last few days, I'd ranked each of the girls I was imprisoned with on her overall ability to help me orchestrate an escape.

The Dragonblooded Matsu was on the top of my list. She was supremely competent and it shocked me that she'd been captured in the first place. After Matsu were Val's girls, Tamika and Rose. They were both smart like their father and as eminently practical as their mother had been. Keiko was somewhat lower down, and the "actress" was flat on the bottom. I somewhat suspected that I'd have to carry her out kicking and screaming. Fortunately, if push came to shove, I was prepared to do just that.

Tamika quickly handed me all of her hairpins and Rose silently watched the stairs. Ten minutes later, the lock I was fiddling with still refused to open. It made a nasty little gurgling noise that made me suspect that it was enchanted. I sighed in defeat and reached for my shroud cloth, tying it around my head. To anyone who didn't know what I was doing, it probably looked like I just wanted to get my hair out of my face.

"Have it your way. I can play dirty." I whispered the first part of one of my favorite Charms under my breath. The internal components of the lock writhed and clacked against each other as I fueled as much Essence as I dared into the device. I'd already used a number of Charms to keep my weapons hidden and to secretly observe what was going on upstairs with the Fae. I could feel my Caste Mark beginning to burn beyond the point where I'd be able to repress it. Still, my shroud cloth would keep anyone from noticing what I was doing, provided that they were a little stupid and I wasn't already pushing my luck.

See, as much as I consider myself to be a force for good, a lot of people have some issues with the source of my power. Through centuries of propaganda and brainwashing, the Immaculate Order has convinced most of Creation that being a Solar Exalt is the ultimate in heresy. They say we're "Anathema" and send entire armies to hunt us down. Not that I blame them for that, honestly. They need entire armies to hunt us down.

"We're free!" Heather exclaimed as the lock crumbled into pieces in my hand.

"Shh!" Matsu scolded, covering her mouth. "Not yet we're not!"

"How did you do that?" Keiko whispered uneasily. It was the first she'd said in hours.

"It's a trade secret." I replied, trying to underplay my accomplishment. I stuffed the lump of gossamer-laced slag into my pocket. I would have preferred to have the lock intact, but sometimes with magical devices, forensics is usually easier than psychology.

"Is there anything archaeologists don't do?" Tamika smiled slightly.

"I'll tell you if I find something." I drew my long knife. "Can any of you use this?"

"You mean… to stab someone?" Heather gasped.

Matsu immediately raised her hand.

"Good. Don't lose it. It has sentimental value." I paused. Though "sentimental value" was something of an understatement, I knew it wouldn't be wise to confess that I had actually found the blade in the 1,500 year old tomb of my past self. Really, I knew very little about my previous incarnation, except that he and I were both Night Caste and that he had been "The Keeper of the Peace", a position not unlike "Chief of Police" which I held a tremendous amount of respect for. Violent and filthy as Nexus had become since the fall of the Solars, it could certainly use a few people who were willing to lay down some law.

Unfortunately, there weren't nearly enough of us who could compete with the kind of scum that more than a thousand years of lawlessness could cultivate. As fast as I could recruit mercenaries and other people with skills to my crews, they became casualties. I didn't like seeing good kids get killed, but I hated what I saw when we did nothing even more. It's one thing when a man dies with a blade in his hand. It's another thing entirely when some soulless monster steals a child's skin and leaves his lifeless corpse lying curled up in his mother's bed as if he were only sleeping.

I've seen that. And I've seen _worse._

"But… what about you?" Keiko protested. She looked nervous, and I didn't blame her. Though not always purely evil, most fae are still bad news.

"I think I'll manage." I replied, gesturing to my firewands. Of course, no one had noticed them before, but once they did, all of the girls were in awe.

"You… you snuck weapons in here? How?" Tamika paused. "Wait! You planned this all out? You got captured on purpose, didn't you! Oh gods, Sapphire! Why?" Tamika observed, reading me like a book.

"It was the only way to get you out." I replied, taking her hands.

"You shouldn't have risked your life for me! I… I'm just a stupid maid. Not even good enough to be a Seamstress." Tamika protested. "You're..."

I put my finger to my lips, warning her not to say anything before she gave away my alias. Though Keiko knew that I was "Shadowsbane" because she worked for my mother, I didn't think it would be right to let two complete strangers know that they'd just been rescued by Nexus's second-most infamous vigilante. Only the Emissary himself was more feared.

"Tamika, I promised your father… I…" I almost said something I hadn't meant to say and swallowed my words. "Screw the Seamstresses! They were stupid not to take you!"

"I agree." Keiko nodded. "You're a very strong young woman. Perhaps lacking in graces, but those can be learned. If you still wish to join us, I shall speak to Three Pearls on your behalf."

"But I don't know how I'll ever…" Tamika began, her eyes drifting in my direction.

"You really want to pay me back? Try to stay out of trouble." I paused. "And if you see me do some pretty impossible things… please don't mention them to anyone."

"If you succeed in getting us out of here, we will all owe you our lives." Keiko put her hand on my own. "I may be a whore, but that doesn't mean I'm without honor. Your secrets are our secrets. Agreed, everyone?"

"Of course!" Matsu nodded readily.

"Agreed." Tamika replied. Silent little Rose gave me a hug and even Heather nodded.

"Good. Then I'm going to cause a distraction upstairs. I can guarantee that every last fae in this building will be chasing after me. I'm going to lead them out onto River Street, towards Firewander District. I want you to wait until you can hear them panicking and that's when I want you to come up. Tamika, when you reach the big room, you lead the girls out the back door where they bring in the flour. Run as fast as you can to the Market Permit Office and get Adamant Quill. Tell him where I am and what's going on." I whispered.

"Adamant Quill?" Keiko blinked in surprise. "Well, shouldn't we find the militia? Or some of those Dragonbloods that are camped around outside the city?"

"Get Quill." I shook my head. "No one else. Trust me!" What I didn't say, of course, was that I specifically wanted Quill because he was _also_ a Solar and therefore not inclined to turn me over to the nearest Wyld Hunt if I was glowing when he arrived to back me up.

"We'll do it." Matsu agreed.

I turned to Rose. "Start counting."

She nodded in agreement. Without hesitating for a moment, I raced up the stairs. I threw open the doors, firewands blazing.

Goblins dropped their flour sacks and baking pans, leaping at me like a swarm of locusts. Using two Charms in sequence, I leapt onto the scaffolding above our heads, flipped over the whirling blades of the mixer and landed on my feet between the two fae who wore the chef hats, obviously the ringleaders of the entire operation. Without hesitation, I shot them both between the eyes... just as the River Street doors came crashing down. The fae seemed uncertain, glancing back and forth from me to the strangers who'd just arrived on the scene.

The doors had been busted in by four newcomers, but they were people, not fae. The first was a thin man about my own age with a short red hair dressed in a spotless white cloak that looked just like the one The Emissary was so famous for. He was followed by a huge silver wolf and a second man who looked like an Imperial soldier, except that he was charging into the fray with an orichalcum daiklave.

The last to enter was a Southerner, a Murqai tribesman who kept right behind the man with the daiklave. Weird as it was, he fought with what was obviously an Imperial-issue longsword... and the way he moved looked like army training. Without a doubt, he was a Realm soldier dressed as a bandit.

I suspected his reasons for donning such attire had something to do with the Solar in front of him. He killed fae with an efficiency and expertise that I'd never witnessed before. I could only guess that I was watching a genuine Bronze Tiger in action and I wasn't disappointed in the least.

_I __had __to __recruit __him._

Black smoke billowed out of the oven and I realized belatedly that one of the goblins I had shot had fallen into it. The smell was enough to make me gag, like burning sugar mixed with something too foul to consider. Running back in the direction of the mixer, I fired a dozen shots into the crowd of fae below.

While they were scattering, I swung over the railing and landed effortlessly on my feet beside the first man, the one who'd taken the doors down with fire. He was carrying what looked like a First Age lightning spear and as he turned to face me I saw that he was a Twilight Caste Solar. If I hadn't guessed as much when I saw the guy with the orichalcum daiklave, I knew then that I had nothing to hide.

A thrill coursed through me. _Two_ new Solars in my city! In the five years that I'd been Exalted myself, I'd only ever met a handful of other Solars... and most of them hadn't stuck around for very long. The legendary Windswept Rhapsody waltzed into Anathema's every year around Calibration, bought a few rounds of drinks, and then waltzed back out again before I could say more than two words to her. She knew that I was a Solar like she was, but I got the distinct impression that she wasn't really interested in being my friend.

According to Viper, most Solars were private and suspicious. In many cases, it was the only way they could keep their heads. I'd decided to stop hiding weeks ago and confessed my secret to my closest friends. It was still odd having Val back in Nexus, and since Mehmed, Bruja, Kasashi, and Fox had learned that I was a Solar, they all walked on eggshells around me. I'd dreamt for a long time about what it would be like to sit down with someone besides Quill who actually _understood_ what it felt like to be one of the ousted and defamed Lords of Creation, divinely mandated to try to protect people who thought you wanted to eat their babies.

That was when the Fae's big nasty decided to make its appearance. I'd heard about the dough monster from some of the girls I'd originally been locked up with, but I hadn't actually seen it before myself. It was far bigger than I'd expected, and a lot faster. It rose up out of the mixing vat, howling and lunging for us with its gooey tentacles.

The Murqai chopped one of its arms clean off and fearlessly tried to cut the dough monster down. He ended up getting mobbed by goblins but managed to wrestle his way free, seize his sword, and jump right back into the fray. Though he wasn't using Essence that I could observe, he was still holding his own.

The way the Murqai shrugged off most of the hits that he took reminded me of my friend Little Fox. See, Fox is a Djala. Although he's an adult, he's basically got the body of an eight year old kid. Of course, that's never stopped him from tussling with Immaculate monks or even burly Icewalkers. Full of attitude and tenacity, Fox always fights like he's got something to prove. This guy was like that.

I spoke the first words of another of my favorite Charms and let loose a volley of Essence rounds. The Twilight standing next to me began shaping some more sorcery and the man with the orichalcum daiklave and his wolf companion covered the two of us. It was obvious that they'd been fighting together for a very long time, and that the wolf was no animal. The two moved like dancers across the floor, never actually touching one another but scarcely more than a foot apart. I guessed that the wolf was his Lunar Mate and thought immediately of Val, wondering if he was looking for his girls or not.

Just the thought of what those fae had planned to do to Tamika and Rose made me furious. And since I'm a practitioner of Righteous Devil Style, anything that pisses me off only makes me more dangerous. With a tremendous burst of Essence, I blew out the doors opposite of us, incinerating a dozen fae and making us a new exit.

The Twilight let loose his spell, a wave of acidic flame, and burned the dough monster to a crisp. As it crumbled into pieces and went down into the vat, he turned to me.

The man with the daiklave quickly ran to meet us, his Lunar close behind him. He'd burned quite a bit of Essence tearing through the goblins on the floor. I was not surprised to see that he was Dawn Caste, and I suspected that I already knew who he was.

There were also rumors that a certain Cathak Loren, a beloved scion of the Realm and commanding officer of the local Wyld Hunt... had "powers" at his disposal that no mortal could possibly possess. I smiled slightly. It was always nice to have puzzle pieces fall into place.

"Who are you?" The Twilight demanded. His tone suggested that he thought he was the one in charge.

"You can call me Shadowsbane." I replied in the exact same tone. "I kill faeries."

"Ah! The heretic archaeologist!" The Twilight exclaimed. "I thought I recognized you! Why am I not surprised?"

I smiled slightly as I realized that I did know him. His name as he'd given it before was Veritas and he'd looked considerably less impressive when we'd met after one of Val's lectures. I'd suspected that he was a Solar anyway, but I hadn't had the opportunity to call him out. Seeing him dressed in gold and white with all of his artifacts out in the open instead of cleverly concealed under his clothing was like meeting him all over again.

"Where are the girls?" Loren asked.

"Scattered all over the city. Three places mostly, and I know that one of the locations is near the Foundry in Nighthammer. Fortunately once I get out of here, I can call up some help. The girls who were locked up with me should be running up those stairs any minute now. I set them free and told them to follow me as soon as it got really loud up here." I pointed.

"You're three Three Pearl's daughter, aren't you? Did Quill put you up to this too?" The Lunar pressed. As she had changed back into her human form, I knew immediately where I had seen her before.

_ Anathema's_. Of course. She was one of Viper's friends. Her name was Amira.

"No. Quill thinks I've been captured, just like everyone else." I replied.

"But?" The Lunar, Amira, pressed.

"Well, he also knows I can take care of myself." I smirked and pulled off my shroud cloth. It was a little singed but not seriously damaged. Standing there between the three of them with my Caste Mark burning out in the open felt liberating. As a Night Caste, stealth was my greatest advantage and I'd gotten very good at concealing the fact that I was Exalted. Of course, sometimes it was very hard for me not to jump up on a rooftop and proudly shout it out to the whole city. All of those sanctimonious fools at the University who mocked me would have to swallow their wagging tongues!

True, my mother was a prostitute and my father was an alcoholic mercenary who'd left me with nothing but his surname. I'd alienated all of my living relatives by rejecting the life of a whore and worked my way through a University education by conning other students out of their spending money. In the past I'd been a thief and a street performer. Before I'd discovered the lost world which lay buried beneath the streets of Nexus, I'd also toyed with the idea of becoming a lawyer, a profession that would have doubtless proven far more lucrative than archaeology, particularly since one of my childhood friends, Clawface Chao, was the current head of the Gongfang crime family. And maybe I did laugh like a hyena... but damn it all, I was still good enough for the Unconquered Sun!

"I knew it! You're a Solar!" Veritas exclaimed.

"I am indeed!" I smirked, firing a shot blind over my shoulder. It caught one of the smaller goblins in mid-leap. He exploded in a burst of golden light.

That was when Tamika and the others came rushing up the stairs. They froze where they stood. Matsu dropped the knife I'd given her as if it were a hot coal and Tamika stared at me with her jaw dropped. It was no use putting my shroud cloth back on. I'd burned enough Essence that I'd risk incinerating it… and the girls had already seen what there was to see. I only hoped that I could find a way to explain later. Given the circumstances, I reasoned that it was probably about time to tell Tamika and Rose where their father had "disappeared" to anyway.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that being revealed was something I couldn't have put off forever. And though I didn't trust Heather, I knew that Keiko would hold her tongue. Stories of demons attracted Imperial attention, and that was the very last thing anyone wanted in Harlotry. Soldiers were only good when they had lots of leisure time. When they were busy looking for fugitives, everyone was liable to suffer.

"Damnit! I told you, go!" I ordered. The girls didn't need any more coaxing. They bolted out the back door and disappeared, all except Matsu who casually approached Veritas as if he was someone she knew very well.

"Fancy running into you here, demon." She remarked, her hands on her hips.

"You're looking well, Matsu." Veritas replied.

"The fae took my sword. And my firewands." She snorted with distaste.

"Have your father steal you new ones." Veritas suggested. "His very impressive new toy is floating somewhere under the Nexus Pool right now." He informed her. "I don't suppose you need an escort?"

"Oh, I'm not going to be caught _dead_ with a bunch of Anathema!" She retorted. Then Matsu smiled slightly. "But thank you for rescuing me! See ya around!" She gave me back my long knife, offere up a little salute, and sprinted off.

"What were the fae doing here?" Loren wondered, examining the stacks upon stacks of flour bags.

"Baking with Wyld-tainted sugar." I replied. "It's how they've been spreading their influence throughout the city. Buy a cookie, take home a nightmare." I gestured towards the dough monster which was still pouring halfway over the edge of the enormous mixer.

"Disgusting." Loren snorted.

"I know." I sighed. "But there's more. The Red Queen has been trading for information, bringing lots of "experts" in here. She wants to know how to get in to a Solar Sanctuary."

"A Solar Sanctuary?" Veritas paused. "That's Adamant Circle Sorcery. Practically impenetrable for a creature of the Wyld."

"And that still doesn't explain what was she doing with those girls!" Amira protested. "You can't tell me that Heather Fiore is an expert on anything, let alone sorcery!"

"It isn't about what she knows, it's about _who_ she knows!" I replied.

"Matsu's father is a smuggler with a reputation for fencing early Shogunate and First Age artifacts." Veritas supplied. "If there's something especially rare or dangerous that would tear down a barrier like that, it's safe to bet that Jing Wei knows about it."

I nodded. "And Keiko Matsura is the mistress of Peleps Eamon. He used to teach at the Heptagram. Tamika and Rose are sisters. Their father disappeared three years ago. They don't know what happened to him, but…"

"You do?" Veritas raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you were at Val's lectures. You tell me." I replied.

"He's clearly brilliant, but he pretends to be a fool when people are watching him." Veritas paused. "There can only be one reason for that. He's a Celestial Exalt like we are. But not a Solar. A Lunar, I suspect. No Moon?"

"Hah!" I laughed. "He's going to _hate_ that you guessed that!"

"That still doesn't explain _Heather_." Amira argued, speaking that name with obvious distaste.

"Yes, it does. Dead Eddie. She's the star of his new play and it's no secret to anybody in this down that Dead Eddie has been around for a long while." I sighed. "And I'm sure not the only one who thinks that whiny old ghost knows more than he's telling."

"We should probably be getting out of here before the authorities show up." Loren admitted. "And I need to see Quill and tell him that my end of our bargain is done."

"Damnit, Quill! You know, it's times like this that I really wish I could convince that man to stop shaking hands with everyone he meets! It's not always necessary to coerce people into helping you. Sometimes they just like to do the right thing!" I argued. "Am I crazy to think that he's a little paranoid?"

"We should be the paranoid ones, dealing with him." Veritas replied.

Loren nodded.

"Well, fortunately for you folks, I know where we can find him!" I finished.

Amira snickered, and I figured from her tone that I was in for more trouble than I'd bargained for. The five of us searched the building from top to bottom and found almost nothing, but the process of making sure there were no more girls in the building took just long enough that I could put my shroud cloth back on before we headed out onto the streets. Loren and Veritas settled for pulling up the hoods on their cloaks.

"That's handy!" Loren's lackey, the Murqai called "Roach" grinned, noticing how the shroud cloth concealed my Caste Mark. "You oughta get one of those!" He nudged Loren.

"I wish I had a spare." I admitted. "One of these days I'm going to burn this one to smithereens."

"Don't worry." Amira sighed. "Something like that wouldn't do Loren any good. He doesn't do anything by half measures. Either he won't burn a single mote or…"

"All of House Sesus is running through the streets screaming "Anathema"?" I suggested.

"You were there?" Amira blinked in surprise.

"Are you kidding? I could hear the panic from down under the bakery! The whole city was going absolutely nuts! Giant cow monster, big glowing machine floating down the river, eight separate fires, some kind of demon invasion?" I teased.

I turned to Veritas, who appeared to be having some sort of whispered conversation with his cloak. "So, if we're off to see Quill, our best bet is to travel through the sewers, especially since we're all obvious right now. We can stop and have a look at my project on the way."

"Project?" Veritas perked up at the sound of that word. When he learned the truth about Solars, my buddy Little Fox had commented that he was surprised to discover that I was a Night Caste and not a Twilight myself. See... my passion for "taking out the trash" is really only rivaled by my love of archaeology, especially ancient machines.

"I've been anxious to show this off. Well, to someone besides Quill. He's never impressed with anything I do. But personally I feel like I've come a long way." I continued, opening the trap door in the center of my workroom floor.

"What is it?" Veritas wondered, the first to follow me down the hidden ladder. He blinked in surprise at the long section of track that led off into the darkness.

"Part of a lightning rail." I explained. "A transportation system from the First Age. I've been working on it for more than five years. I figured it might be useful. You know, for people like us who have to get from Harlotry to Nighthammer, or from Fishmarket to Sentinel Hill without being seen? I have three access points excavated already. One of them is here, another is in the basement of the Foundry… and the last one is in the Permit Office at the Big Market where our friend Quill pretends to work. It's the door labeled "Filing Room"."

Veritas grinned very broadly. "You're reconstructing the Whispering Serpent?" He observed.

"How'd you know that name?" I demanded.

"I was the one who originally designed it. Well, to be fair, it was actually a project of my previous incarnation... but in a way, that still makes it mine." He replied, a smug little smile on his face.

"Perfect! Then maybe you can answer some…" I trailed off into silence, realizing suddenly what I had unwittingly said. "No, wait!" I exclaimed. "You're _Perfect_!" Spending as much time as I did beneath the streets of Nexus, I'd uncovered more than a few ancient cornerstones and technological marvels that bore the signature of the famous First Age artificer known as Perfect Mechanical Soul. I'd felt a kinship with Veritas from the first time we met at Val's lecture, and now I knew w_hy._ He was a member of my Circle!

"Of course." Veritas bowed. Obviously he knew enough of the past to recognize the name of his previous incarnation.

"Then you…" I turned to Loren. Word on the street had it that a legendary Dawn Caste called "The Faeslayer" had recently returned and made short work of a particularly nasty, predatory fae known as the Alabaster Duchess. The Alabaster Duchess had been one of the most hated underlings of the Red Queen and personally I wouldn't miss her one bit.

"You're The Faeslayer!" I exclaimed.

He looked a little embarrassed but nodded slightly.

"I can't believe this! C'mon, now I've really got to show you something!" The two followed me as I ran down the tracks to my little base of operations and kicked aside my sketches and maps to reveal the very first track of the lightning rail, a piece of perfectly smooth orichalcum inscribed with graceful Old Realm characters.

_ The __Whispering __Serpent_

_ Given __this __12th __day __of __Descending __Water __to __the __People __of __Nexus_

_ Alexander__ the __Faeslayer, Exalted __of __the __Dawn __Caste, Sword __of __the __Deliberative._

_ Perfect __Mechanical __Soul, Exalted __of __the __Twilight __Caste. Chief __Engineer __of __Roads, __Bridges, __Waterworks __and __Other __Improvements __for __the __Public __Good._

_ Stefan Shadowsbane, Exalted __of __the __Night __Caste, Keeper __of __the __Peace._

"You're Shadowsbane?" Veritas turned to me. It wasn't really a question.

I nodded. "Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"The lightning rail?" Loren wondered.

"Well, yes, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the Unconquered Sun, bringing us all together right here. The three of us are standing exactly where we stood over two-thousand years ago!" I finished.

Veritas laughed slightly. "I suppose that is something to marvel at."

"There's another place you two really should see." I admitted. "It's in Nighthammer and that's a bit of a walk, but do either of you remember something called _The __Three __Circles __Society_?"

Veritas immediately brightened. He grinned very broadly. Loren nodded, looking a bit nervous.

"I don't know if you know this, but back in the First Age, all of us were _serious _sorcerers. We collected all of the information we could about magic and combined it into one book that was supposed to be the ultimate resource. Everything from Terrestrial Circle basics to Adamant Circle Creation-rearrangement." I explained. "Adamant Quill's previous incarnation was kind of our wild young blood back then, the rule-breaker... that's how all Silurians are, apparently. Not that I've got that much experience with sorcerers in this life. But I've been reading." I paused.

"So have I." Veritas nodded. "And everything you've said so far makes perfect sense to me."

Loren bit his lip. "I have dreams sometimes. About the past. I can picture exactly what you used to look like, but I don't remember much about you. I get the impression that we weren't very close."

"Well, I really can't remember _anything_ about the First Age, so I can't say whether we ever got along or not. What I think I know about us comes mostly from Val's research. He's always had a real fixation on the Faeslayer and Perfect Mechanical Soul. He thinks you two are fascinating." I laughed slightly.

"We're really not the same people we used to be." Loren paused.

I studied him for a moment and smiled despite myself. "You are a _terrible _liar!" I informed him. "We're _exactly_ the same people we used to be! Sure, we may have different experiences in this lifetime and different faces... but how did Quill put it? He told me once that you have to _act _like a Solar in order to _become _a Solar!"

"Do you know where the fifth member of our Circle is?" Veritas wondered hopefully. "Because I have a friend who is Zenith Caste and she..." He fell silent, as if he'd said more than he'd meant to. "Well, I would like to find her."

"For what it's worth, I'm damn good at finding people." I replied. "And I don't doubt that we'll all recognize our Zenith when we meet her."

"Or him." Loren supplied.

"Yes, I am getting that impression." Veritas paused.

"Ahem?" Roach cleared his throat.

Amira stood with her hands on her hips. "We're supposed to be finding Quill, aren't we? You three can come back and stare at that _very __exciting _brick later if you really want to!"

"And for the record, I don't speak Old Realm!" Roach announced. "So unless it's some "secret Solar business" that you're up to... can we stick to High Realm or Rivertongue?"

"We were speaking Old Realm?" Loren blinked in surprise, turning to Amira who gave him a very condescending look.

"Hunh. Didn't realize that." I admitted.

"It's very easy to fall back into familiar patterns, isn't it?" Veritas paused.

Loren said nothing. He looked supremely uncomfortable.

For awhile, we walked on in silence, heading in the direction of the Big Market. Veritas seemed to be deep in thought and finally he broke the silence. Despite the fact that Roach had reprimanded all of us for having a conversation that he couldn't understand right in front of his nose, Loren turned to me and spoke in Old Realm.

"What do you know about the Usurpation?" He asked.

"I don't actually remember it if that's what you're asking... but from the research I've done, it sounds like it was very bad. The fighting part at least." I admitted. "Some of the really old Solars must have been terrifying to face. Flying fortresses, Adamant Circle sorcery, weapons, artifacts, construct armies, Wyld-shaped housepets..." I shook my head heavily. "Even if the Dragonbloods did outnumber us ten thousand to one, we still should have destroyed them when they tried to take us out. And yet they somehow succeeded in killing us all and imprisoning us for over a thousand years? How?"

"Sidereals." Veritas replied with conviction.

"Sidereals?" I echoed. That was a word I'd never heard before.

"You've never heard of them either, have you?" Veritas observed, a slight smile on his face. "There's a reason for that. They broke Fate itself to hide their existence from us. But they're behind everything."

"If you say so." I shrugged. It sounded like paranoia to me... but I was a little unnerved by his certainty, especially considering that he was the reincarnation of Perfect Mechanical Soul.

"I know so." Veritas replied. "You see, the Sidereals particularly _hate _our Circle. There's a special Convention within the Celestial Bureaucracy created solely to keep track of Exalts like us who... "broke the rules" and learned things that they were never meant to know. It's called Oversight."

"Oversight?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Sounds rather innocuous, doesn't it? Don't be fooled." Veritas warned. "Sidereals are nothing but trouble, and even the ones who claim to be interested in helping us can't be trusted."

"What is it with you and Sidereals?" Loren demanded. Notably, he spoke in Rivertongue so that Roach could understand.

"What's a Sidereal?" Roach wondered.

"I tried to explain that to you before." Veritas sighed heavily. "It's very complicated. But the short of it is, Sidereals are Exalts like we are... except that they live and work in Yu Shan with the Gods. They're all part of an organization called the Bureau of Destiny and they manipulate the Fates of everyone in Creation. Including us." He paused. "_Especially_us." He decided. "The Sidereals are responsible for the Dragonbloods rising up and overthrowing the Deliberative."

"Wretched meddling bastards, those Sidereals." Quill added, landing silently behind Loren. "Never know where they are or what they're doing! Can't trust them at all!"

I didn't know where Quill had come from, but he'd certainly made an excellent entrance. Even Amira looked surprised to see him, and it's almost impossible to sneak up on a Lunar. I couldn't be sure if he was serious or not, but it was the first time I'd ever hear him mention Sidereals, and we'd known each other for years.

Loren jumped like a scalded cat and almost went for his daiklave. "Don't scare me like that again!" He warned.

Quill smirked and turned to me. "Shadowsbane, your messenger found me. I suppose I need not tell you that she was quite distressed? At any rate, it didn't take me long to guess where you'd gone. The old Circle's all together now, eh?" He put his hands on his hips and surveyed us.

"We're still missing one." I reminded him.

"Yes. But I wouldn't worry about that too much. If we continue as we have been these past few days, I've no doubt that the Unconquered Sun will find a way to bring ol' _Heart-of-Gold_ back to the rest of us soon enough." He replied. "So are we off to the Well?"

"Absolutely!" I replied without hesitation.

"Then allow me to lead the way!" Quill gave a rougish smirk and illuminated his own Caste Mark. Despite myself, I was fairly skipping as I followed him into the dark.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Well

**Chapter 6 – The Well**

Wandering the ruins beneath Nexus, I burned my will like a candle against the dark. It had been difficult to make the decision to leave my manse, particularly when I knew that there were dozens of Sidereals watching my every move.

After everything I'd learned about the Bureau of Destiny and the danger that Rhapsody was in, I wanted to lash out indiscriminately. The easiest and most readily available targets were the Dragonblooded who seemed to be everywhere, lording over those whom they had no right to control. And when Godchaser whispered in my ear that a Sidereal was nearby, I fought the urge to destroy their Resplendent Destinies by calling them out publicly. Of course if I did that, I knew that, I'd also expose myself.

I tried to keep my composure. It was nearly Calibration, after all... and I'd had an eventful year. The experience of my Exaltation had been harrowing by any standards, I'd successfully fled all the way from the Abbey of Mela on the Blessed Isle to my own manse in the valley south of Nexus. I'd had a short-lived but brilliant love affair with a fellow Solar and successfully repaired one of the most coveted artifacts in all of Creation, "The Godchaser" who remained my constant companion. I'd discovered the existence of Sidereals, one of the greatest secrets of the Heaven, fought three of them off and bribed a fourth into working for me. I'd discovered my own talent for sorcery, met my two-thousand year old Lunar Mate, and learned quite a bit about my previous incarnation, Perfect Mechanical Soul.

More recently, I had come to know three of my former Circlemates, Loren the Faeslayer, whom I respected, Sapphire "Shadowsbane", who annoyed me to no end, and Adamant Quill, whom I rather expected would get himself and possibly the rest of us killed. As Sapphire had casually remarked, none of us had really changed at all. I wondered if she actually knew how right she was.

All things considered, I'd never been so angry about so much at once. I wanted to tear down the dilapidated, tin-roofed shacks and houses of ill-repute that had infested every beautiful remnant of the First Age. I wanted to put both of my hands on the Bridge of Whispers and tell it to rise up as Loren had when we'd stolen Sesus Nagezzer's fae-tainted cow. I wanted to dredge up all of old Nexus from the depths of the Yanaze and forget that the Usurpation had ever happened. But I couldn't forget. Thanks to several supposively "benevolent" Sidereals who claimed to be members of the pro-Solar "Gold Faction", I understood exactly _why _the Realm feared that the return of Solars would herald the end of the world.

They had to call us demons! What they had done to us was unspeakably horrible. They hadn't stopped after destroying thousands of years of art and innovation. They'd blackened our legacy so that no one would ever believe that it was possible to even _dream_as we'd once dreamt! Flying ships and manses like my own were nothing_. _The Deliberative had terraformed pure chaos! Our predecessors come to control the Wyld to such a degree that they were able to physically push it back, just as the Incarnae and the Primordials themselves had done. We Solars had been more than just the rightful rulers of Creation! We'd also been its _makers_.

And when the Sidereals and the Dragonbloods had risen up against us, they had poisoned and destroyed everything that we had put so much of ourselves into. The only other time in my life that I had felt such an all-encompassing, corrosive _hate_ was when the Sidereal Himitsu had come to the witness stand at my trial and accused me of stealing my own work, claiming that it was impossible for any mere mortal to create the perfection that I had forsworn sleep and sanity in the pursuit of. The willful and wanton destruction of such beauty was _wrong_. It was _cruel_. I couldn't tolerate it!

Following our affair at the bakery, all of us needed some time to lie low before returning to the surface. Sapphire had sent one of the girls that she had rescued to go fetch Adamant Quill and he had led the three of us Solars, Loren's Lunar Amira and his lackey, "Roach" to see something Sapphire vowed that we would all find extraordinary. After what felt like hours of stumbling through tunnel after tunnel, we came to a narrow spiral staircase which seemed distinctly familiar to me. I remembered someone complaining that it wouldn't work, and could distantly hear Perfect agreeing to fix the problem.

The room at the bottom of the stairs that Quill led us into left me as shocked and awed as I had been when I'd first discovered my manse. Godchaser gave a low whistle when she saw the orichalcum and moonsilver celestial map that adorned the walls and the distinctive, grooved pattern of three circles carved into the marble of the round table, which was surrounded by five chairs. The first one which caught my attention was marked with the symbol of the Twilight Caste. I knew without a doubt that it was my seat.

"First things first, don't put _any _Essence into this table!" Quill warned. "It's more than what it looks like, it's actually a control mechanism for a very dangerous and sophisticated device called the Well of Udr. It's a kind of Calibration Gate, like the ones that the Gods and Sidereals use to move in and out of Yu Shan. The trouble is, The Well of Udr is not connected to places inside of Creation. It's specifically connected to places outside of Fate."

"How is that possible?" Godchaser demanded, though I had repeatedly asked her not to start arguments with Quill.

Apparently, after Quill had gotten Loren and myself fairly inebriated before the three of us set out to rescue Roach and Godchaser had spent the better part of an hour scolding him very loudly, drawing the attention of a number of Immaculate monks and two soldiers who were attached to the local Wyld Hunt. "I can't even find things outside of Fate! For someone to build a device that could find places outside of Fate... they would have had to do a very dangerous thing, like break The Loom! But Autochthon built The Loom! It wouldn't be easy to break!" She protested.

"Exactly so." Quill replied. Of my Circlemates, he was the only one who addressed Godchaser as if she were capable of holding an intelligent conversation. Loren persistently referred to her as "that construct" and Sapphire still seemed a bit nervous whenever she spoke. "Difficult, but not impossible."

"I'm absolutely lost." Loren admitted. Though he was by no means slow, his education in lore and matters arcane was sorely lacking. I'd made it my special project to teach him everything that I could. In my bones, I knew that he and I were kindred spirits, and that when he became comfortable enough with his own nature, the two of us would be fast friends again. Though he was a Dawn Caste and more of a fighter than a scholar, Loren preferred hard logic to wild speculation, which was something I found exceptionally refreshing, especially when the two of us were faced with Sapphire and Quill, who were both the exact opposite.

"No, that's not it." I interrupted Quill, who raised an eyebrow in my direction. He was insufferably arrogant and never seem to believe that he could be mistaken about anything. I somewhat doubted that he'd mastered Adamant Circle sorcery as he claimed. As far as I could tell, the only thing that he was actually good at was convincing people to listen to him, and to believe that whatever he said was true, even if it wasn't.

"Fate wasn't actually _broken_. Well, it was, but not for the reasons you think. The Sidereals did choose to make the rest of us forget that they ever existed, but they were capable of that only because the Loom has a fundamental design flaw. Autochthon showed me... showed _Perfect_ the problem. I saw it with my own eyes. I never did guess if it was intentional or not, but..." I explained.

"You're suggesting that a Primordial built something with a design flaw?" Sapphire stared at me in disbelief.

"Yes! Because he built it out of another Primordial!" I sighed in defeat, feeling strangely grateful towards the two Gold Faction Sidereals who'd provided me with enough restricted information to get themselves both audited a dozen times and probably mined for starmetal. "The Loom of Fate is alive! And it's not at all happy with its predicament. Who would be, being used like that? It regularly tries to... sabotage itself. Hence the necessity of the pattern spiders. They constantly make the necessary repairs. But the spiders can't catch all of the problems at once. There are knots, there are missing portions and there are pieces of Warp, threads of the Loom itself which have come partially or completely loose from Fate! And they _also _told me about a piece of Warp which dangles out into Elsewhere and sometimes _disappears._ With the mind of a sleeping Primordial to guide it, well, there's no telling how far something like that might reach. The Underworld. Yu Shan. Malfeas. The Deep Wyld?" I suggested.

"Another Creation." Quill supplied. As he spoke, I realized that he wasn't as ignorant as he'd sounded before and that somehow he'd already known everything I was trying to tell him. "Another world, exactly like our own."

"Another _world_?" Roach looked dumbfounded. At Loren's insistence, the rest of us were speaking in High Realm instead of Old Realm, but both Roach and Amira had still remained very quiet. I gathered that was because the sort of things we were talking about were the kinds of things that no Lunars or mortals had _ever _known about. Neither of them could possibly comprehend what Adamant Circle sorcery actually was... not merely meddling with the heartstrings of reality, but fundamentally and willfully re-shaping it just as one of the Incarnae or a Primordial would.

Loren didn't say a word either, and even Sapphire looked solemn. But Godchaser wouldn't be deterred.

"Maker!" She exclaimed. "He knows?"

"_You_ know?" Quill eyed me suspiciously. "How do _you_ know?"

Such information was extremely sensitive, even by Oversight's standards. "Because I was involved, idiot! Now I don't remember the details, but I can piece together what U do know." I replied. "Some of the Primordials were killed by the Gods in their revolt, some were imprisoned. Some of them joined the enemy and others just disappeared. Is it really madness to suggest that the same beings who shaped Creation might have reached out into the Wyld and made another world like this one? Am I correct so far?" I asked.

Quill nodded. "As far as I understand it, yes. The Well of Udr may not reach the same place all the time, but it does follow a specific pattern. And every Calibration, for five short days if you look into the Well, you'll see a place that should not actually exist."

"Calibration is coming up soon." Sapphire explained. "Quill and I don't think it's any fluke that we've all found each other again. The four of us together may not be a complete Circle but..."

"You want to try to use this thing?" Loren blinked in disbelief. "That's insanity! We don't even know where it might go!"

"Maybe not, but we _do _know that we won't be trapped there permanently. The Well has a fail safe. Whenever it's activated, it is _only _for five days... at which point it will retrieve us all and deposit us promptly back here." Quill explained.

"How can you know that?" Loren demanded.

"Well, I believe I did mention that this device is specifically designed to react with our Essence. Any of us can wake it, but it will take all of us to effectively wield the power we've invested into it. Many years ago, I discovered the Well myself. It was the third day of Calibration and this thing was burning up Essence like nothing you've ever seen." Quill explained. "I didn't know where it went, so I tossed in a Resplendent Whirlagig."

"How many of my inventions have you stolen?" I demanded, eying him suspiciously as he produced the little surveillance device.

"Irrelevant. Besides, it's not as if you were using them. The point is, two days after I tossed it in, it came flying back out. I couldn't recover the information that it collected and so the following year, on the first day of Calibration, I tried sending it thorough the Well again. Five days later, it came back. Undamaged, but with no data."

Quill continued. "Five years ago, I was planning on entering the Well myself when Sapphire accidentally destroyed the geomancy of a manse in the Market District. She told me later that a strange woman reached out of the well in a garden and tried to attack her. Now _that_ well was supposed to be purely ornamental, so I can only guess that someone else is trying to come here from this other Creation... and that the only reason they haven't succeeded is because the Well on this side and the Well on the other side are no longer correctly aligned. If we repaired the manses and cleared out some of the rubble, we could probably repair the connection."

"And that's what you want to do?" Loren asked.

"Naturally." Quill replied.

"Haven't you considered that by fixing this monstrosity you could be letting something terrible into our world?" Loren pressed.

"I agree. We should be very careful." I replied.

Even Sapphire, who struck me as something of a hellion, rolled her eyes in Quill's direction. "Yeah, cause we don't have enough problems already with the Red Queen and those damn flying hagfish!" She snorted.

"No sense of adventure?" Quill frowned. "None of you?"

"You're nuts, Quill!" She informed him. "Nuts!"

"Well, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to fix this device!" I argued. "If it's broken, it could prove even more dangerous. Imagine if something were to get through from this alternate Creation and we couldn't send it back?"

"Where do you want to start then?" Quill asked. "It seems natural that you take the lead on this one, Recluse. It's your sort of project."

"It is, but... Geomancy is complicated and I won't feel at all comfortable meddling with it unless I do quite a lot of research first. Changing a manse's fundamental structure can produce an enormous amount of power, but it has to be channeled properly." I explained. "Judging from what you think this device does, there must be more than one manse around here connected to it. At least... four, no... five! Five manses, of course! But we'll need the hearthstones for each manse and after 1,500 years, those could be anywhere!" A mad thought suddenly occurred to me. "Unless! Hah! Of course!" Without bothering to explain what I'd just realized, I ran over to the table. Sure enough, there was a small, expertly hidden drawer directly in front of my seat. Despite Quill's warnings, I sat down and gave the drawer a mote of Essence. The drawer opened. It was lined with black velvet and made to accommodate something I recognized immediately.

"Looking for this, Maker?" Godchaser reached out with one of her tendrils, producing my hearthstone circlet. I'd found it in my manse weeks ago but hadn't been able to identify the origin of the brilliant green stone that was set in it.

Seeing what I was up to, Sapphire immediately followed suit. An incoherent exclamation of joy escaped her as she discovered the hidden drawer in front of her seat and produced a similar orichalcum circlet set with a purple stone. She put it on and grinned very broadly. "Well? How do I look?" She pressed.

"Brilliant, darling!" Quill exclaimed. Sapphire put her nose in the air and fanned herself dramatically.

I said nothing, though I was very annoyed that the two of them did not seem inclined to take our situation seriously. Loren only coughed. Truthfully, Sapphire looked a bit like a child dressing up in someone else's things. Though Sapphire had been more than thirty years old when she Exalted, she had a very round, girlish face which made her look much younger than she was.

Quill sat down in his seat, unforgivably smug. He reached into Elsewhere and produced his own circlet, setting it upon his head at an angle that made him look more like he was wearing a party hat than a crown. The yellow gem flickered. Clearly, whatever manse it was tied to was phenomenally unstable.

That did not surprise me in the least. In fact, it seemed... appropriate for Quill. I was also not surprised to discover that he'd already known about the circlets. Was there anything that menace didn't have hidden up his sleeves?

"Well then, if we already have the hearthstones we need, I suppose our first task should be to unearth some of these damaged manses." I replied.

"We already know where one of them is." Sapphire explained. "It's going to be hard to get to, but I could find it blindfolded. It's where Val and I Exalted. And it may be the manse that my hearthstone belongs to. I did always like the place." She admitted.

"That seems like a good place to start." I agreed.

Loren bit down on his lip. He glanced in the direction of Amira and Roach who were waiting at the foot of the stairs. They both looked irritated. Then he turned back to Sapphire, Quill and myself. "To be honest, I think that activating this "Well" for any reason is a very foolish thing to do. But what I like even less is something this dangerous sitting where anyone might stumble upon it. We should destroy it. Completely." He decided.

"Destroy it?" I echoed incredulously. "But..."

"That's idiocy, Faeslayer! We can't destroy The Well!" Quill replied. "We can, however, meticulously _disassemble _it! And we probably should, though not before we are _certain_that we have every last piece in our possession! As long as there are loose ends somewhere out in Fate, we can't guarantee that whoever activated this device from the other side won't try to do so again!"

"That may be for the best." I agreed grudgingly. Secretly, I relished the thought of having all the parts of the Well brought back to my manse where I could analyze them to my heart's content and then reassemble them when I understood what I was actually dealing with. "But there's a catch, isn't there?"

"The principles that the Well of Udr operates on are... complex." Quill explained. "It will take all of us working together to pull this thing apart safely and even then, it will require a special touch."

"Sorcery." I interrupted him. I turned to Sapphire and Loren. "The two of you will need to learn sorcery."

From how he'd balked at the idea before, I did not doubt that Loren wasn't pleased to hear such a thing. Sapphire grinned like a madwoman.

"She's all yours." I informed Quill, who offered Sapphire his hand as if he were a courtier asking a lady for a dance. The two of them twirled around the room. From the way they hung on each other, I rather suspected that they'd been sleeping together for some time. Not that I had any inclinations towards Sapphire, she could be insufferably abrasive at times, but I was mildly jealous of Quill nonetheless.

Being a wanted "Anathema" makes it extremely difficult to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. I wondered again if I would see Rhapsody on Calibration as she'd promised. Silvermane believed that she was dead because he'd found the necklace that I'd made for her, but I was convinced that the cord had broken on its own and that there was a good reason she hadn't been able to go back and look for it. Though I wasn't sure that Rhapsody was the Zenith of our Circle, I wondered if she'd be willing to help us with the Well. In a rather immature way, I hoped that I could get Rhapsody involved mostly so that she would stay in Nexus for more than a few days before racing off again on another of her madcap adventures.

I put my circlet on. Truthfully, I liked the sensation of the orichalcum against my skin, and the circlet was more a part of me than any of my other artifacts, save for Godchaser herself. I'd worn it continually in my past life and the first time I'd laid my hands on it, I'd experienced the most powerful vision I'd ever had of the First Age. It had left me so shaken that I'd lain on the floor of my manse for hours afterwards, Godchaser hovering vigilantly over me in silence until I could bring myself to sit up.

Slowly, Loren took his seat at the table next to me. He opened the drawer in front of him and stared at its contents for a long while.

"Loren." Amira broke the silence. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to!"

Did the Lunar know more than she was letting on?

I wrinkled my nose slightly but tried to avoid watching her suspiciously. Lunars could be as deceitful as Sidereals, and not all of them believed that the return of the Solars was a good thing. Though Amira was one the leaders of the strongly pro-Solar "Sun King Seneschals", she also remembered the end of The Deliberative. I really couldn't imagine how the world looked through her eyes, and it would be foolish to ignore the fact that she'd had thousands of years to plan what she would do if Alexander or Perfect ever returned.

"We can go." Roach suggested in a tone that seemed to say that was what he'd prefer.

For the first time since we'd met, Loren did not immediately agree with what Amira thought was best. He didn't even glance at Roach. I could see the change in his eyes and I smiled slightly, despite the fact that I knew the realization he'd come to was very painful for him. It wasn't only the life of a Dynast and a soldier that he needed to leave behind. He had to free himself from the illusion that he was anything less than one of the most powerful forces in Creation. He had to understand that whether he willed it or not, all of the world _would _come to bow before Solars again. He had to accept that his fate was not merely to join us, but to become our leader again.

"You two should go." Loren ordered, turning to Amira and Roach.

Roach looked surprised and Amira seemed genuinely hurt. Roach began to say something in protest, but Amira stopped him before he had the chance to blurt it out. They both stepped into the corridor and closed the door. A long moment of silence passed. Very slowly, Loren lifted his circlet from its resting place. It was exquisitely crafted and looked more like a crown than any of ours did.

The hearthstone was notably missing, but he did not have to look very far to find it. With a heavy sigh, he called for his daiklave and removed the scarlet hearthstone from the weapon's guard. He placed it in the crown, slowly put it on his head and sat staring down at his hands for a moment, clearly deep in thought.

When Loren finally looked up to face us, Quill stifled a gasp. Sapphire nearly flipped out of her chair. Godchaser gasped and I didn't react much better myself. If I'd ever wanted to see Loren behave more like his previous incarnation, I'd gotten my wish. Of course, I knew that he recalled his past life perfectly, but I'd never stopped to consider what that could actually mean. Though I felt a kinship with Perfect, mostly because we were alike in so many ways, we were not really the same person.

But Loren had two complete sets of memories. Although he didn't have sufficient practice with Essence necessary to do all of the things he had once been capable of, he could still draw upon Alexander's vast reservoir of knowledge and experience.

In a sense, he _was _Alexander.

"This is what we're going to do." Loren announced, making certain that he had our undivided attention. "First we stabilize all of our manses, beginning with the one that Sapphire knows the location of. Then we activate the Well on the first day of Calibration. We go through it to see what's on the other side and make sure to take back everything that we left over there so that nothing dangerous can ever come back through to this world. Then we destroy the manses. And then we push _everything_ into Elsewhere so that in the future, if we should be tempted to this kind of idiocy again we'll have our work cut out for us."

I noticed that he did not say that it would be "impossible". Clearly, he already knew more than he had ever let on.

"Faeslayer, what you're proposing would be absurdly difficult!" Quill remarked. "Putting a sword into Elsewhere is one thing. You're talking about permanently removing half of the underground of this city! Nexus would collapse into the Yanaze!"

"Not if we make the right preparations." I smiled slightly. I already had a few ideas.

"If there is a spell capable of doing such a thing, it would have to be Adamant Circle!" Quill protested.

"So?" I prompted. "Aren't you an Adamant Circle sorcerer?"

Quill looked very embarrassed. He heaved a dramatic sigh and glanced at each of us in turn. "Actually, I'm a Sapphire Circle sorcerer. And a lying bastard." He admitted.

I smiled slightly. "Well, it's nice to know that some things never change."

"Are you implying that I'm still wrong about everything and you're still perfect?" Quill teased.

"Not perfect. But very, very good." I replied.

"Well, we'd all better be _perfect _if we're going to pull something like this off." Sapphire admitted. She did not sound very confident. "There's a good chance that one misstep could kill everyone in this city."

"And if we do nothing?" I suggested.

No one seemed to like that option. Even Godchaser seemed worried by the Well, and she was usually enamored with any First Age technology that we found.

"Then I suppose there's no alternative." Loren smiled slightly. "We have to save Creation."

"Ahem." Quill cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to convene a meeting _long _overdue! The Three Circles Society... is back in business."


	7. Chapter 7 - The Sorceror's Apprentice

**Chapter 7 – The Sorcerer's Apprentice**

Weeks passed as the four of us began to repair the manses we needed to power the Well. As Calibration drew closer, we all became irritable. There was far too much that still remained to be done and no one we could ask for help. We'd unanimously decided not to draw Sapphire's friend Val, Amira, or Viper into our mess. Though some of the Lunars we knew were far older and more experienced than we were ourselves, we didn't know how they might react if they learned what we'd really been up to in the last days of the Deliberative. At worst, they might decide that we deserved what had happened to us.

To Quill's disgust, Sapphire proved to be absolutely useless. She was terribly shaken after her initiation into sorcery, which I personally believed had come too far quickly. Quill had presided over her training, as the Silurian school of thought seemed more to Sapphire's strengths just as the Devonian method better suited Loren and myself. Still, it worried me that Sapphire, who was normally a chatterbox, didn't say anything for days. While Sapphire had not been Exalted as long as Quill or Loren had, she had several years more experience than I did myself, which I'd thought might have prepared her somewhat.

_Apparently not._

But I had more to worry about than Quill's anarchistic methods of instruction. I had a student of my own, one that I was handling with the utmost care. Though it was necessary for us to disassemble the Well of Udr as soon as possible before something monstrous tried to use it to enter Creation, I didn't want to make Loren's initiation into sorcery something that he would spend the next three thousand years hating me for.

He proved to be an excellent, if unenthusiastic student. Finally, I decided that we had put off the inevitable long enough.

We met outside the city on a hill not far from my manse. It was early evening and the sun had not yet come to rest on the horizon, the perfect time to begin.

"I keep expecting to see Amira or Roach." Loren admitted, glancing over his shoulder.

"They're probably both drinking at Anathema's." I informed him, and he shrugged halfheartedly.

"All the same. I thought someone would try to stop me." Loren admitted.

"Now, Loren, if you don't want to do this..." I began.

Loren sighed heavily "Damnit, Recluse, you don't have to coddle me! I know _exactly_ what I'm getting into. And there's no way that I'm going to entrust something this dangerous to just you and Quill!"

"You don't think I can handle myself?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"It's not _you_ I'm worried about!" Loren replied. "I want to be there every step of the way! I'm keeping my eyes on Quill so that he doesn't stab you in the back! I _know _he's betrayed us in the past! I'm sure that you and I had to kill him once before. I just wish I could remember the circumstances better."

"Fair enough." I nodded. "So have you considered what you want to sacrifice?"

Loren nodded. He reached into his pocket and produced a piece of silver that I recognized immediately as the Talonlord insignia from his old uniform, the last thing he possessed that still tied him to the Ravenous Winds and his old life. "It's nothing much, but..."

I smiled slightly. "No, it's exactly right."

"What are you smiling about?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"You understand much better than you think you do." I replied. "The initiation into the first Circle of sorcery is the same for every sorcerer... gifted mortal, Dragonblood, or one of us." I explained. "You didn't _choose _to be Exalted, but you _choose_ to become a sorcerer. You choose set yourself apart. That can be difficult, especially since you've spent so much of your life trying to be just like everyone else."

I could see Loren running his fingers over the little pin as I spoke. The expression on his face suggested that he would very much like to turn back.

"Relax." I informed him. "I've done this a thousand times."

"When you were Perfect!" Loren reminded me.

"And I'm _still_ perfect!" I retorted.

He smiled. "Yes, you are." Loren paused. "Well, here goes nothing!"

Loren slowly approached the fire I'd lit in the center of the circle I'd painstakingly assembled over the last few days. He spoke the words that I'd instructed him to recite and then dropped his silver insignia into the flames. There was an explosion of golden light and I knew at once that something had gone horribly wrong.

"What was that?" Loren demanded. He sounded like he was hacking up a lung.

I coughed myself. The air reeked of sulfur, and where our brazier had stood, a mass of green flames had erupted from the ground. A demon had just appeared before us without being summoned. It was at least eight feet tall with a long, lean body covered in a red scaley hide and strung with whipcord muscle. The demon leered at us.

"Hohohoho!" It cackled. "Two little sorcerers!"

Loren took a step back. "A demon?" He wondered uneasily.

"We didn't summon you!" I informed the demon. "Return to Malfeas at once!"

"Arrogant worm! You think you can command me so easily?" The demon snarled.

It lunged for us, cursing incoherently in shock as Loren immediately called his daiklave.

"Wh... what? Y..._ you_?" The demon growled, clearly recognizing the sword. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"I'm supposed to be dead?" Loren echoed.

"No matter. This is easily remedied." The demon replied.

"Think again." I replied coldly, seizing my lightning spear from where I'd left it lying. The expenditure of Essence was just enough to make my Caste Mark begin flickering and when the demon saw me in that new light, it hissed like an angry snake.

"Oh, _I knew it!_" The demon spat. "No! I won't obey _you_! I won't! I'll kill you first!"

The demon charged Loren, but instead of stepping in with his sword, he planted the blade firmly in the ground and made a familiar gesture. Brilliant golden strands of Essence bled from his fingertips, wrapping the demon in a cocoon of light. The demon howled and exploded into a cloud of ash. Loren stared at the Essence swirling around his own hands and then at the pile of ash where the demon had stood. It was obvious that he understood as I had after consciously casting my first spell... that sorcery was nothing less than the belligerent rearrangement of the fabric of Creation itself.

Dragonblooded were fundamentally limited when it came to sorcery. They lacked the sufficient Essence and potency of will to accomplish anything truly devastating. The same could not be said for Solars, however, and from Loren's reaction, it was evident that he finally, truly, understood the difference between us and them.

We stood in silence, facing one another, for a long while.

"This is dangerous." Loren whispered.

"Unbelievably dangerous." I agreed.

"Then why are we doing it?" He pressed.

"Because we can." I finished.

"And that's the only reason? That's not a very good reason." He eyed me skeptically.

"No. But it's the only one that I actually believe is true." I admitted.

"I appreciate your honesty, Veritas." He admitted. "But there's no way that I can handle this."

"It's too late for that." I shook my head heavily. "Sorcery isn't something you can un-learn, Loren. You may not want the knowledge that you have now, but that won't change the fact that you have it. If the Unconquered Sun didn't think you were fit for this, the ritual would not have been successful."

"Sometimes I wonder what he thinks." He remarked dryly.

"Heh. Well, I've come to believe that I was Chosen because of my conviction. You have conviction too... but more importantly, _you _are good. We're all supposed to be good, but it comes easily to you. Even after everything that you've heard and seen, you haven't become bitter. You're still good, and you still have hope for the world. And by being yourself, you make the rest of us better." I smiled slightly.

"Are you humoring me, Recluse?" Loren pressed.

"Absolutely." I replied. "Do you feel better?"

He paused for a moment, considered what I'd said, and then smiled slightly. "So, about that demon?"

"The one you just banished?" I suggested.

"It seemed very upset about something." He paused.

"Demons have long memories. It's probably still miffed about whatever our previous incarnations were up to last." I admitted.

"I get the impression that we ought to find out what that was." Loren admitted.

"Well, we could head back over to my manse and do some research?" I suggested.

"You have tens of thousands of books. That could take years." Loren sighed.

"You've got a better idea?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Can you summon that demon again? The same one that was just threatening us?" Loren asked.

"Um, well..." I began. "I really don't want to make a habit of summoning demons."

He gave me a very condescending look and I sighed in defeat.

"Yes, I can summon it back!" I admitted. "But it's going to be very upset! Demons don't take kindly to being pulled out of Malfeas and then kicked right back down there!"

"I know." Loren nodded. "That's exactly why we're going to summon it. And banish it. Repeatedly."

"I see." I observed, understanding what he was proposing.

Godchaser, who was supposed to be keeping quiet, sat up and squealed with delight. "Hee!" She exclaimed. "This is going to be _fun_!"

Four summonings and three banishings later, we got all of the information we wanted.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Shoat

**Chapter 8 – The Shoat**

It took a long while for Recluse and I to regain all of the Essence that we'd used banishing and re-summoning the demon that had made an appearance at my initiation. We retreated to his manse where we wouldn't be seen by any of the Ravenous Winds who were patrolling around the walls of Nexus. Though I was personally afraid that I would be recognized by someone I'd formerly served with, Recluse assured me that the Winds were "most thoroughly" infiltrated by Sidereals who would do worse than report us to the authorities. As I paced the loading dock for the warbirds and gazed out over the massive library and the plasma furnace that dominated the heart of Recluse's factory cathedral, I considered everything we'd learned from our unwilling Malfean informant.

The Delibrative's annual Calibration party had been the event of the season for more reasons than one. Since everyone was expected to attend, it acted as a kind of insurance to prevent Solars from attempting to use certain dangerous spells of Adamant Circle sorcery that could only be cast during Calibration. Over time, our predecessors had become so corrupt that only the feat of getting caught doing something that would send all of Creation spiraling into the Deep Wyld would keep them in check.

Even with the memories that I had of the First Age, I still couldn't conceive of doing something as awful as what the demon claimed he'd helped my previous incarnation accomplish. Apparently, Perfect and Alexander had once used the days of Calibration to summon a Third Circle Demon into Creation so that it would create a "distraction" significant enough for them to do something far more reckless. The thought of how many people had surely lost their lives solely so that theThree Circles Societycould set the Well of Udr in motion made me feel sick.

Recluse didn't like the information we'd gleaned any better than I did. He sat with Godchaser hovering over his shoulder for a long while, muttering again about his "protoscemaic vortex" and musing over where it had disappeared to. I didn't bother to ask him to explain. When he began theorizing about the Well, listening to him only gave me a headache.

I decided to head back to Nexus as soon as I was able. I didn't sleep at all, though I wanted to. I had the most horrible, incoherent dreams I'd ever had in my life. A hideous, monstrous woman was calling for me, using Amira's voice when I resisted her summons. I'd never had such dreams before and I decided to attribute them to dealing with demons. Although the presence I felt was distinctly _not _Malfean or Fae, it was malevolent and very familiar. For some reason, it felt like a Lunar to me.

As soon as the sun came up, I decided to start walking back to Nexus. Keeping off of the main roads it took me most of the day to reach the city. It had been several weeks since I'd seen Roach or Amira, but I had a fairly good idea of where I'd probably find them both. I knew they were both sore about my decision to leave them out of the business of The Three Circles Society, but I'd had more than enough of sorcery. Despite the nearness of Calibration, the thoughts foremost in my mind were of a good meal, a glass of wine and Amira in my bed. If I was very, very apologetic, I suspected that she would forgive me for slighting her in front of my new "friends".

Anathema's was in its usual state of chaos when I arrived. A group of soldiers in the colors of the Ravenous Winds were sitting in the corner across from the stage, but I didn't recognize any of them. I wished belatedly that Veritas had come back to the city with me. Godchaser had a knack for detecting Sidereals and I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched by someone with Charms at their disposal.

Though I was still far from comfortable with all of Viper's wild girls, I knew that nothing said "trouble" like a man who acted like he was ashamed to be walking into a whorehouse. I sighed heavily and let Kitten paint my forehead when I walked in the front door. I noticed that she was very careful with her brushes and suspected that she'd found out from her employer that I really was a Solar.

"Is Amira here?" I asked.

Kitten shrugged. "Haven't seen her today."

"What about Roach?" I pressed.

"The Murqai that Viper likes?" She hazarded a guess. I wasn't surprised that Kitten thought Roach was a bandit. He had worn southern clothes since we'd arrived in Nexus at any rate. "He was here this morning." She admitted. "But he usually takes off in the evening."

How long had it been since I'd seen Roach? A week? Two weeks? It seemed too long. Roach had always kept me sane, reminding me that I hadn't eaten or slept and constantly asking me normal questions such as whether I thought the bard performing on stage was any good and whether I preferred pan-fried noodles or pork ribs for dinner. I'd been so wrapped up in my training with Recluse that I hadn't even noticed his absence. The more I learned about the black deeds of the Three Circles Society, the more I found myself losing my grip on the very things that would prevent me from becoming a monster. Roach always saw the world as a better place than it was, and Amira saw the best in me. It had been a very foolish decision to cut the two of them out of my life.

Still, my hopes to seem comfortable and "at home" inside Anathema's were completely dashed when I glanced out the window and caught sight of three soldiers in unmistakable red armor walking down the street. They seemed to be considering whether or not the fun of visiting Anathema's would be worth the trouble they'd get into for patronizing a blacklisted establishment. One of them laughed in a particular manner that made my blood run cold. When he stepped into the light outside the front door, I realized that the youngest soldier was my cousin, Teric.

Not bothering to explain why I was in such a hurry to hide, I raced upstairs and flung opened the door to one of the "private" rooms. The whore who'd been fixing her makeup scurried out into the hall and I stared out in the direction of the river.

Sure enough, a very familiar House Cathak warship was docked near the armory. The scarlet banners left me with absolutely no doubt as to who had just arrived in Nexus.

I didn't have to guess where my father was staying, and though I knew it would be madness to get anywhere near him, especially if Mnemon Rai had revealed what had happened to me... I decided that I had to see him. At very least, I needed to know why he'd come to the Scavenger Lands in such a rush. I hoped he'd already planned the trip and prayed that it had nothing to do with me.

"The Scarlet Legion is in Nexus?" I demanded.

"Camped outside of the city since this morning. I hear the Dragonlord is visiting family. The Emissary gave him a special pass." Kitten nodded. "Should I go get the mistress?" She asked, standing in my shadow. A well-concealed dagger on her hip glistened in the moonlight. Clearly, the whore was much smarter than I would have given her credit for.

"Not yet. But if I'm not back here by closing time, tell her I went up to Sentinel Hill." I replied.

"You're not going to go start trouble with those Scarlets, are you?" Kitten whispered incredulously.

"No!" I vowed... and then scoffed at myself. Though there was no sense in telling Kitten everything, someone would need to know where I went, and why. "Look, it's not how you think. Dragonlord Chiron is my father."

Kitten's eyes widened in disbelief and she swore incoherently in Rivertongue. "And you're going to go see him? Are you mental?" She demanded.

I started to climb out the window.

"I'm telling the Mistress! And then I'm sending Shadowsbane after you!" Kitten informed me.

"Go ahead! At this hour, both of them are probably drunk!" I retorted. "Don't follow me!" I scolded her as she climbed out onto the roof.

"Yeah, well someone better!" Kitten remarked. She watched me as I slid down the drain pipe and sighed heavily. "What is with you people?" She demanded, once my feet were on the ground.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?" Kitten wagged a disapproving finger in my direction. "All of you Solars sound like you're stuck in Act Five of _The __Seven __Daimyos_! You know, the part where Son Yu and Hawk both lay there on the ground and _talk_ for ten minutes before they bleed to death? _It is my duty_! _Oh, __I __die! __How_ _I __die!_" She finished with an obnoxious strangled groan, obviously imitating the character from the play what she was quoting. "You think you're a big damn hero, hunh?"

"Absolutely." I smiled slightly despite myself and leapt effortlessly down to the street.

I decided to take the alley behind The Drunk Duck and began running in the direction of Sentinel Hill. I caught my breath and composed myself before I crossed the bridge leading into the exclusive district. If I acted as if I belonged, I'd probably be mistaken for a servant.

It seemed strange to pose as a servant when I'd been raised to behave in Dragonblooded company as though I were a Dragonblood myself. But something _had_ changed in me. When I'd thrown my insignia into Recluse's sacrificial fire, I'd vowed that I was done being a servant of the Realm. What I hadn't anticipated was that I would actually feel _different _afterwards. For the first time, I was looking at the world I'd been raised in through the eyes of an outsider. I was no longer a loyal son of House Cathak hiding a terrible secret. I _was_ a Solar, walking brazenly into one of the most Dynast-infested parts of Nexus.

I tried to keep my head about me and avoided staring too long at any of the people who passed me on the road. It was very late, and anyone acting nosy would immediately look suspicious. It felt like an eternity since I'd last seen my cousin Lao's house. Compared to Anathema's or any of the other places I'd been staying, the manor should have looked like a palace to me, but I'd also taken up residence part-time at Recluse's manse while he trained me in sorcery. Waking up in the shadow of a two-thousand year old airship had given me a sense of perspective. Even Recluse's smallest tools were dazzling in comparison to Lao's over-dressed residence. I somewhat doubted that I would ever be impressed by anything mundane ever again.

Perched on the wall of the outer courtyard, as close as I dared get to the house, I used a little Charm that Recluse had taught me and listened for familiar voices behind the rice paper screens on the patio. The largest shadow to the far right I was sure was my father. Even when he wasn't wearing armor, he had a commanding physical presence. Across from him was Lao, and the others moving in the background I guessed were some officers of the Scarlet Legion along with Lao's household servants and guards. The first thing I heard didn't surprise me at all.

"He's probably gone down to that... that blacklisted nest of heresy!" Lao snapped.

_ Anathema's. _Of course. They were talking about Teric, who I'd just seen.

"Teric is not a fool, Lao." My father sighed heavily. "And he's very intent on a promotion. He won't embarrass himself!"

"Uncle, you give him far too much credit!" Lao retorted. "That boy is completely undisciplined! Mark my words, he'll be drunk, penniless, crawling with lice, and probably _painted _by the time he gets back to this house!"

I smiled slightly. Though I'd never particularly liked Lao, he was sharp. Belatedly, I remembered that I'd been painted myself, and though I didn't intend to step out into the open, I rubbed off the mark Kitten had put on me anyway.

My father made snorted. "You're particularly unpleasant this evening, Lao. Is there a reason why?"

"Uncle, I'm not a child, nor am I one of your soldiers! I'm a man of business and if I'm going to continue pouring jade into the coffers of our noble House, I must insist that it is not squandered! I know that you're partial to your own blood, and Aunt Karisa's children... but Teric is a fool! He's not fit to command two Scales, let alone your Scarlets! You _can't _retire!" Lao finished.

My father, _retire_? I'd never even conceived of such a thing!

"I'm old, Lao. Older than your father and Karisa both." He sighed heavily.

"So choose a suitable heir! Hesiesh as my witness, _one _of your children must show some promise!" Lao groaned.

"_Only_ one of them." My father was silent for a long while. "You know, I used to believe that the Dragons were not capable of making mistakes. But these last few years..." He fell silent. "They must be punishing me. There's no other reason for it. They must have known how much hope I poured into my son."

"Jaret's been dead for a decade, Uncle." Lao reminded him.

"I'm not talking about Jaret!" My father snorted."Rai Jin still hasn't said anything?"

_ Me_? He was talking about _me_!

"No, and I don't think that he will." Lao paused. "It isn't your fault." He added, probably just to say something.

"It isn't?" My father echoed. "I sent Loren back here! I packed his things myself and now they tell me he's gone without a trace? Not even a body to bury? I've _threatened_ every one of the Winds! They tell me Loren was killed by Anathema, by the fae, by Murqai... I've heard that he was _eaten_, _set __on __fire_, trampled, stabbed... kidnapped by the Emissary! Not a single story matches! I personally questioned one hundred and eighty-five men, more than half of them mortals, and for some reason _all __o f__them_ lied to me! Loren must be alive_, _and I can only assume that Rai Jin does not want me to know where he is."

I wanted to see my father's face. Though it wasn't smart to sneak any closer, I wanted to know if he looked the way that I felt that he must. Very carefully, I climbed down the trellis and hid in the magnolia bushes. From my new hiding place, I could see the back of Lao's head and my father's profile. He looked old, older than I'd ever thought he was capable of appearing.

"Maybe he deserted?" Lao suggested. "Maybe that's what Rai Jin doesn't want you to know?"

"I don't think so. I overheard some fisherman talking on the docks this morning. Apparently there are _heroes_ in this city. One of them is supposed to be a swordsman with a penchant for rescuing beautiful young women." My father laughed slightly.

"Oh, you mean the Anathema?" Lao laughed.

"Anathema?" My father echoed. "An Anathema took those girls?"

"No, the Anathema _rescued _them! Women began vanishing several months ago. It seemed safe to assume that they were being killed by the fae... but then they all returned, spouting the most _absurd _yarn about being saved by a group of Anathema and a _dog_! Dragons, it's all anyone's been talking about for weeks!" Lao explained. "This city has gone completely mad. Someone fixed a First Age fountain in Glassmaker's Alley. A very influential woman whose only son was kidnapped had the boy returned by a stranger with "a burning white sun" between her eyes! Two crooked merchants turned themselves in because someone beat them in at mah jong and _told __them __to __do __it_!" He rolled his eyes. "It used to be that we only had that wretched Shadowsbane to worry about. Now it's a veritable infestation!"

"And you're _sure_ these "heroes" are all Anathema?" My father pressed.

"Except for the Murqai and the dog, that's the only thing everyone seems to agree on." Lao groaned. "Now, I was out of town on business when those Anathema exposed Sesus Nagezzer's dealings with the Fae, but apparently two of them made quite the show on the waterfront. One is surely that red-headed monk you told me about, the one who robbed you. The other... well, he's described as huge and terrifying."

"And that's all?" My father pressed.

"Oh, and _beautiful_!" Lao scoffed. "Majestic! Radiant! _Like __a __king_! They call him the Faeslayer and the following he has is _enormous_! Practically a cult! You can understand why we're a bit concerned for the general populace, Uncle. This kind of heresy is particularly difficult to purge."

Something ran across the opposite side of the courtyard. I almost reached for my daiklave, but then I remembered where I was. That was when I noticed the shadows on the ground were moving. My father noticed it to. He slowly stood and reached for his blade, which was resting against a chair only a few feet away from his grasp. Lao looked nervous.

"What is it, Uncle?" He whispered.

"There's something coming." My father replied. "Something that does not belong here."

A smell worse than the Yanaze on a hot day immediately assaulted my senses and I blinked in disbelief as I realized that the shadows I had seen belonged to a dozen shambling, river-bloated corpses. The Fae could not have concocted something more horrific, but I knew that I was not witnessing their work. A pale little girl in archaic funerary robes sat on the wall to Lao's courtyard where I'd perched myself. Her eyes were cold and emotionless, like the eyes of a dead fish, and she was smiling a malicious, mirthless smile.

"Alexander? I know you're here! Come out, come out wherever you are!" The little girl recited in a sing-song voice.

_ She was looking for me?_

On the girl's brow was an open circle which looked very much like Sapphire's Caste Mark, except that it was black and dripping congealed blood. The dead shambled closer. My father quickly dispatched the first dozen corpses with a proud battle cry, but there were more of them coming. Cousin Lao ran into his house... and out a moment later with a sword, accompanied by one of his guards and four of my father's Scarlets.

There were more walking dead coming from inside the manor, and inside, people had started screaming.

"I know you can hear me, Alexander! And if you don't come out of hiding, I'm going to cut this ugly little man into pieces!" The horrible girl bounded down from her perch and approached my father. Four black metal chains as thick as a man's arm emerged from her back. They were crowned with vicious looking, barbed blades and moved like snakes as she walked.

"Mother has been calling for you, but you've been ignoring her! Rude boy, ignoring Mother!" She waltzed towards my father casually and pulled her chains back, preparing to strike at him.

I immediately thought of my nightmare and the blood in my veins ran cold. That monstrous woman hadn't been a dream? Who was she and what did she want with me?

I didn't have time to wonder. My father was still on his feet, but recovering from the strain of fighting off so many of the dead. I did not doubt that he could parry one of her blows, but four? He wasn't armored and he hadn't been prepared for a fight. His fiery anima had already begun to flicker, setting him apart from the sea of gray and black that was closing in around him. The little girl had made a mistake in threatening someone I cared about! Even if my father wanted nothing more to do with me... even if he tried to kill me after I saved him, I couldn't leave him to be cut down!

"Leave my father alone!" I ordered, stepping out of my hiding place.

"Loren!" My father exclaimed. All the life that had been slowly drawn out of him returned at that moment. It was almost worse, knowing that he was so glad to see me... and knowing also that he'd probably never remember me fondly again.

The girl immediately brightened. Before I could warn him against doing something so rash, one of my father's Scarlets decided to take advantage of the fact that the little monster wasn't looking at him. He struck out with his sword, but his blow never connected. The blades on the girl's chains cut him in two at the waist. Without even looking, she immediately killed Lao's guard.

"Stay back!" I warned. "All of you, stay back! This monster is more than a match for you! Hold off the dead!" I ordered. The remaining two Scarlets nodded obediently, positioning themselves in front of my father.

"All right, you beast! I'm here. These men are nothing to you, so leave them alone. Now what does your mother want?" I demanded.

The little girl grinned again, even more wickedly than before. "Silly boy. Mother wants you _to __die!_"

The first of her chains struck just over my shoulder, cleaving two large branches off of the magnolia tree. One of the dead seized my arm, intent on holding me still so his mistress could pin me to the ground like an insect on a collector's board, but I was ready for him.

Despite the alarm I knew that it would cause, I called my blade. The Essence I burned wasn't enough to make me glow, but there was no mistaking an orichalcum daiklave for anything but a Solar weapon. I cleaved down all of the corpses that were within my reach and parried the little girl's chains as she fired them at me. The strength that she possessed was preposterous, especially considering how small she was, and the first time she dodged one of my blows I knew that I'd been right to warn my father to stay away from her.

Any illusions that I'd harbored about her being an unsettling but helpless little girl vanished immediately. She was easily as fast and strong as I was, and clearly homicidal. When one of her dead followers got in her way, she gored him completely through without hesitation. I barely parried her attack and swore under my breath. If I wasn't going to get disemboweled, I'd probably need to use every Charm I knew!

My cousin's household staff and dozen of my father's soldiers had all emerged from the house. They didn't move close enough to interrupt our deadly ballet, but every man or woman who could fight had at least one hand on a weapon. The chains swept close enough to my face to shear a lock of my hair. I countered with a move I'd practiced a thousand times. Focusing my will into blade, I extended the reach of my weapon with a flare of white-hot Essence that struck with the force of a battering ram. My Caste Mark began to burn, but my attack succeeded. The evil little girl was lying on the ground and looked both shocked and singed.

"Your first mistake was threatening my family!" I informed her.

She staggered to her feet. A dark miasma had begun to rise up around her, and I knew that had to be a bad thing. Was it sorcery she was attempting, or something else? I decided not to wait to find out.

The girl parried my daiklave with her chains as I struck as many times as I could, pressing her to the edge of the courtyard where her possible targets would be limited.

"Sister!" The little beast howled. "Sister!" Lightning crackled overhead and the earth made a terrible yawning sound. I thought for a moment that it was an earthquake, but the ground did not start shaking. Nothing happened, except the monster that I'd cornered scurried up the wall behind her like a spider and took off running into the night.

The last thing I saw before I went after her was my father's face. There was nothing I could think to say to him that would have been any consolation at all... but with the condition he was in, I doubted he'd be chasing me.

I leapt the courtyard wall in one bound, trailing Essence like a comet. More than a few startled shouts from the street warned me that I'd been seen, and those cries of alarm turned to cries of terror as everyone saw the malevolent creature that I was chasing. The mark on her brow was bleeding profusely and as she chased me through the pond behind the An-Teng Princess, every single cherry tree on the water immediately withered and died.

I knew that I had to get her far away from anyone who could potentially get hurt.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, she fled in the direction of the Nexus District. She was virtually invisible in the dark, but I could hear her clattering chains wherever she landed and I followed her anyway. A few Air-Aspect Dragonbloods were on my heels, and one Fire-Aspect was shooting burning arrows in my direction. Of course, I was far quicker than any of them could hope to be. But the little girl was still faster than I was, and I lost her somewhere near the Bridge of Whispers.

Still needing a place to hide myself, I turned around and doubled back in the direction of the Big Market. I broke down the door to Adamant Quill's office and charged into the filing room. There was no sign of a secret entrance to the Whispering Serpent, but I did notice a humming sound coming from beneath the floor. When I slammed both of my hands down on the granite slab, it split open, revealing a flight of stairs.

I jumped down and just as my pursuers came blazing into Quill's office, the stone closed up over my head. I made a mental note to thank Sapphire – and to apologize for doing something so incredibly pigheaded. I knew that I never should have gone to see my father, but what worried me more was the horrible little girl that I'd encountered.

Whatever she was, she was _not _something that belonged in Creation... and the fact that I'd lost track of her before learning anything about her "Mother" or her "Sister" worried me considerably.

True, I was not likely to be held in high regard as a member of House Cathak any longer, but I still instinctively held Dragonbloods in higher regard than the soulless creatures of the Wyld. Not that the little girl was fae... I would have sensed it if she was, but I felt in her presence the same kind of disregard for mortal life. The way that she'd slain my father's men had been too efficient, even for an accomplished killer. Despite the form that she wore, she was clearly a monster incapable of remorse.

Not waiting to see if those who'd been chasing me could sort out where I went, I headed down the steps and followed the tracks of the Whispering Serpent to the buried Temple of the Unconquered Sun, the manse that had once belonged to the Zenith Caste of our Circle. Decomposing corpses of flying hagfish and the familiar scent of alchemical ammunition warned me that Sapphire had been in the tunnels recently.

With Recluse and Quill working together, it had been very easy for us to clear a path back to the Temple that had been buried five years ago in the biggest earthquake Nexus had ever suffered. I remembered clearly how it had felt to stand with my Circlemates for the first time in 1,500 years in the shadow of the enormous orichalcum statue of the Unconquered Sun.

I was not entirely surprised to see Sapphire sitting at the foot of that statue, rolling a peach in her hand. Sapphire looked even more small and childish than she usually did.

When I entered the room, she smiled slightly. "Burned too much Essence?" She teased.

"I tore the door off of Quill's office." I admitted. "But I don't think I've been followed."

"He'll love that the place has been ransacked again." Sapphire remarked. "It'll give him an excuse not to come into work for awhile."

"I've been meaning to ask why he works in that office." I admitted. "Not that he actually works, I understand that he mostly uses Charms to slow down actual progress, but..."

"Quill has a lot of responsibilities." Sapphire shrugged. "I think the Permit Office is sort of his way of thumbing his nose at bureaucracy. It's a place where he can be inefficient and blow everyone off without really hurt anything."

"I'm sorry. You lost me when you used the words "Quill" and "responsibility" in the same sentence." I replied.

"You don't know him like I do." Sapphire informed me.

"Maybe not." I admitted. I sat down beside her and looked up at the Unconquered Sun. He had a very peculiar expression on his face, a good-natured grin.

"I wonder about our Zenith." Sapphire mused.

"So do I." I admitted.

"But don't you remember the First Age?" Sapphire pressed.

"Not everything." I sighed. "And sometimes not the things I wish I remembered."

"It seems unfair." Sapphire admitted. "I mean, we have all of this power and yet sometimes we're still..."

"Helpless?" I suggested. It was the last look on my father's face that came to mind as I answered her. His expression was something I would not soon forget.

How could I apologize for something I'd never asked for? I couldn't feel the way that I knew my father would want me to feel, _ashamed_ of what I was. It had taken me ten years to understand that I hadn't been cursed or damned, but given the greatest gift and most daunting responsibility imaginable.

We sat for awhile in silence. "We're not meant to face everything alone, Sapphire. That's why we have our Circle. We balance each other's strengths and weaknesses." It was something Recluse had told me and it felt very true as I repeated it.

"But our Circle's not complete! It's missing a piece! It's broken!" Sapphire protested.

"It won't always be broken." I reassured her.

"Maybe not, but how long can it hold out the way it is?" She demanded.

I had no answer for that.


	9. Chapter 9 - Dawn

Nine - Dawn

Recluse arrived in Nexus the following evening, and Quill sauntered into Anathema's sometime after sundown. The four of us, including myself and Sapphire took the small room in the back, started drinking heavily and then began to argue, probably louder than we should have, about Recluse's incomplete geomantic reconstruction of the Well of Udr.

Though we hadn't found the hearthstone that belonged to the fifth manse of the network, the underground temple that housed the huge statue of the Unconquered Sun, Quill was convinced that we could proceed with only four stones. Recluse complained at length about needed to know the whereabouts of his protoscemaic vortex and argued that we needed more time, even with the beginning of Calibration only a day away. The conversation, which had begun in relatively egalitarian Rivertongue, had devolved into Old Realm and then into a full-on shouting match between Quill and Recluse. The construct, Godchaser, eager to defend her Maker's position, had completely disregarded her orders to behave like an inanimate article of clothing and was flying around the room protesting shrilly every time Quill opened his mouth.

"You are a complete ignoramus!" She scolded him. "Ignoramus!" Godchaser repeated. "Stupid like a Dragonblood!"

Sapphire cackled. I grimaced, knowing that someone outside had surely heard her hyena laugh. It carried through walls.

That was when the door. Godchaser immediately dropped to the floor, Recluse stopped tinkering and Quill whistled, casually tossing his hearthstone circlet into Elsewhere.

"Four Solars in one little room and not a single Charm to prevent eavesdropping?" Amira grinned wickedly, her hands on her hips.

"Nice one." Roach remarked. It was the first I'd seen of him in weeks. I hoped he wasn't still sore about me dismissing him along with Amira when we'd reconvened the Three Circles Society and began work on repairing the Well.

I sighed and buried my head in my hands. Roach sat down beside me.

"You know, I gotta admit that I was upset when you kicked me out of your last little meeting." He remarked, surveying our large collection of empty wine bottles. "But if this is what you four usually do when you're alone... I feel better about missing out."

"Everyone out there can hear you right now. Viper wants you to tone it down." Amira announced, her eyes fixed firmly on Quill and Veritas. "And the carpet needs to shut up."

Godchaser peeked up over the edge of the table, looking confused. When she realized that Amira had been referring to her, she gasped in horror. "Carpet? Maker! Did you hear what she just called me?"

"You _were_ on the floor." Quill reminded her.

Recluse laughed slightly himself.

"Maker! It's not funny! I hate you! You're horrible!" The construct scowled.

"Well, I suppose we're very nearly done with business." Quill sighed. "Any last notes."

"Four Sidereals in Winds uniforms. Saw them down by Fishmarket earlier." Recluse supplied. "I'm fairly sure they're only reconnaissance, so let's try to avoid starting anything with them."

"Agreed." Sapphire nodded. "The manses are mostly cleaned out, as I said before. I've got every one of my teams working double time to make sure the areas we've marked off stay fae free. Val's handling everything through the University. On the surface, it all looks official and approved, so no one should be alarmed if any of us are seen going in or out of the manses. So long as we're not glowing." She added with an impish grin.

"I don't like that I haven't still met this Val character." I admitted.

"Val is trustworthy." Recluse informed me. "And with the Scarlet Legion currently in town, _you _need to be keeping your head down, Faeslayer!"

I paused. Of course, Sapphire knew that I'd gotten into some trouble the previous night, but I hadn't explained how or why. Her mouth widened into an "o" as she realized why I hadn't said anything.

"You didn't!" She gaped. "Oh, Kitten said you went looking for trouble but... all those dead Dragonbloods? That was you?"

"No, I didn't kill anyone! It was that horrible little girl!" I protested.

"So you were there?" Recluse raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"Stupid!" Amira scolded, whapping me hard across the back of the head with her stick. I hadn't even seen her produce it and I didn't see her spirit it away.

"I wasn't trying to start anything! I didn't even burn any Essence until that girl started killing everyone!" I protested.

"What _girl_?" Recluse whispered uneasily.

"A little girl. Dressed in old funeral robes. She has chains coming out of her back. They move like they've got a mind of her own. She feels wrong, like something that doesn't belong in Creation... but she's not Fae." I explained. "She has a mark on her. It looks like Sapphire's Caste Mark, except that's black and it bleeds."

"Shoatie." Quill's expression soured.

"Shoatie?" I echoed.

"The Shoat of the Mire. She's a Deathknight in the service of a Deathlord called The Dowager." He clarified.

I knew vaguely what a Deathlord was, a powerful being from the Underworld like the Mask of Winters who'd torn his way through the city of Thorns more than forty years ago. I knew also that keeping such monsters from despoiling Creation was something that fell to Solars to take care of, but beyond that could remember nothing.

"I understand why we've got to watch out for Sidereals." I admitted. "They wanted us overthrown in the first place, they'd like to get their hands on Godchaser and they definitely want to keep us from activating the Well of Udr. But what do Deathknights and Deathlords have to do with any of this?"

"I might know the answer to that." Veritas admitted.

"Oh?" Sapphire prompted.

"In my notes on the Well, I... I specifically didn't tell any of you, but I think Perfect consulted with someone else who was working on a similar project. Secretly. The rest of you were not supposed to know." Recluse explained.

"Recluse, what were you thinking? What if there are dozens of these things? They could be underneath every city in Creation!" I protested.

"No, no... there's just one. And it's incomplete. A prototype. The Dowager can't pass through it... she can only look into it and see what's happening." Recluse explained.

"The Dowager?" Quill demanded. "You traded secrets with a Deathlord!"

"Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same, you devious bastard! And it was before the Usurpation... she wasn't a Deathlord then!" Recluse snapped. "Damnit, I knew Tess! We may have been rivals, but we were also friends! We studied sorcery together!"

"Quill? You care to explain all this?" Sapphire turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

He sighed heavily in defeat. "There's a reason The Shoat's Caste Mark reminded you of Sapphire's, Loren. The Deathlords used to be Solars. And they made the Deathknights by taking other Solars and... well, torturing them!"

"No!" I protested, though I could tell that he wasn't lying.

Roach gave a low whistle. "So how exactly does a Solar become a Deathlord?"

"That's easy. They choose to serve The Neverborn instead of the Unconquered Sun." Quill took a long drink of his wine. "The Neverborn are starved for Solars. They'd like to have all of us under their power. It would make it much easier for them to pitch Creation right into Oblivion if we didn't insist upon getting in their way. The Neverborn will give you just about anything if you're willing to serve them after you die. I hear that the yozi have extended a similar sort of offer. As has the Weeping Maiden."

"You can't be serious! Using the kind of power we have to help the Fae or demons or the Underworld... it would mean betraying _everyone _in Creation!" I protested. "Who would do something like that?"

"An innocent little girl, afraid to die?" Quill paused. "Can any of you honestly claim that you've never wanted to _quit_, that you've never felt like you were _cursed_, or wished that you were _dead_?"

Roach grinned and raised his hand. Recluse shot him a black look, but Amira laughed.

"Hah! We should let Roach talk more often! Mortals are awesome! I'm beginning to understand why we keep them around!" She tousled my hair. I'd never heard anything positive about Roach from Amira before, and from the way he beamed at her, I guessed that Roach appreciated Amira's demeaning complement.

Still, it was a serious mess that we were in and I couldn't easily forget what had happened at my cousin's house. All of us sat in silence. The Shoat's soulless eyes still burned in the back of my mind.

"No, you can't go in there!" Viper protested. I leapt to my feet.

Amira jumped like a scalded cat as the door opened behind her and Roach reached for his sword. Quill lowered his eyes and crushed his wineglass into pieces. He seemed to recognized the man who'd just shoved Viper aside and sat down in the empty seat across from me. Sapphire looked especially nervous.

The stranger was tall and thin with a long curled mustache and short cropped dark hair with only the faintest frostings of silver. His black clothes were extremely fine and embroidered all over with tiny characters in green and silver, like the text of an entire box full of documents torn apart and dumped on top of each other. A fine, white silk scarf was tossed casually around his neck. His eyes did not match. One was emerald colored and the other was entirely black and blind-looking with several Old Realm symbols tattooed underneath it. A large raven came to perch on his shoulder, watching me with eyes full of intelligence.

"Dorian Gray." Quill observed. "I was wondering when you'd make an appearance."

"I've heard that you've been up to no good again, you nuisance." He remarked casually. "And of course, I recognize Heartsblood and little miss Sapphire. Who are your new friends?"

"Call me Veritas." Veritas offered his hand.

"Hm." Dorian observed. He obviously did not intend to shake it.

"Ahah! Fancy meeting you here, preacher!" Master Dorian exclaimed as he caught sight of Roach. Roach looked as if he desperately wished he could make himself invisible.

"Preacher?" I stared. "Roach?"

"Um… there's something I've been meaning to tell you about?" He admitted nervously.

"And if it isn't young Cathak Loren!" Master Dorian smirked. "The last I heard from Mnemon Rai Jin, you were killed by some Anathema. If you're alive as you seem to be, shouldn't you be rejoining your unit? Though I do wonder about the… company you keep."

"Something came up." I lied. "A… special mission."

Roach rolled his eyes. "Well, that's one way to put it. Master Dorian, Loren wasn't killed by The Faeslayer. He _is_the Faeslayer."

"Ahah!" Dorian's mischievous grin widened. "Another Solar in my city? Why, the lot of you are springing up like mushrooms in a pile of shit!"

"Roach? You know this clown?" I demanded.

"Look, Boss… it's not like that! He's been coming to my meetings, that's all." Roach explained.

"What meetings?" I frowned. Granted, I didn't know how long it had been since I'd last sat down and held a conversation with my old friend, but it seemed like an awful lot had happened that I wasn't aware of. Amira and Roach actually getting along didn't seem to be the most unlikely change either.

"I kind of started something?" He admitted.

"Without telling me?" I pressed.

"I haven't seen you in weeks, you asshole! You go off with your new friends to save the world and you leave me at a bar! Granted, it's a good bar to be left at... but what am I supposed to do, sit on my hands and wait for you to come back? I'm not stupid, Loren, and I know there's something big brewing here. I wanted to help you and I figured the best way to do that would be to get some people together who were actually willing to work with Solars. I started out with the Murqai who helped us get into the city. You remember Salakhin, right? Well, he had some friends, and his friends had some friends... and now there's a lot of us."

"That still doesn't explain why Dorian keeps calling you "preacher"." I informed him.

"Um, my Murqai cousins are kinda zealous and hanging around them I guess I just fell back into it. I started telling a few stories here and there and then..." Roach paused. "It got out of hand. And I'm in charge now. Of all the local Murqai. And some other believers?"

"Illuminated heresy." Quill grinned very broadly. From the way Roach reacted, I knew that Quill had hit the nail right on the head.

"Roach!" I sighed heavily.

"You have a problem with your friend worshipping the God who Exalted _you_?" Veritas pressed.

"I…" I couldn't find words. "It's dangerous!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Fae-Slayer… being anywhere in your proximity is dangerous. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some experiments upstairs to get back to." He excused himself. Godchaser fluttered after him, sweeping over his shoulders and resuming her "cloak" appearance just as he stepped out into the bar.

"I'm going to go check on Viper, okay?" Amira stood up from the table. Until she said something, I hadn't noticed that our bartender had disappeared… and when I realized that she was gone, I remembered what Amira had said about there being some bad blood between Viper and Dorian.

"Well, I suppose I should mention it's nearly midnight." Dorian remarked casually.

"Crap!" Roach threw out his chair.

Dorian bowed. "Run along, preacher! Your congregation awaits!"

I jumped up to follow Roach. After what I'd just learned I wasn't about to let him go anywhere without supervision. Spurred on by Dorian's warning, he was making pretty impressive pace across the Whispering Bridge headed for the Fishmarket Docks.

"Okay, Roach. Where's this cult of yours?" I asked.

"Um… we usually meet in the basement of a building just around the corner from here." He admitted. "Look, Loren… I'm not sure it's a good idea for you go inside."

"I promise, I won't say a word. You won't even know that I'm there." I vowed.

"Are you kidding? Everyone's going to recognize you!" He shook his head, standing with his back against a peculiar-looking door. I knew immediately that we'd already come to the place and Roach was just stalling for time. "But that's not my fault!" He protested. "You're the one who keeps saving people!" He reminded me.

"Don't make me pick you up over my shoulder and carry you in!" I warned him.

Seeing several Bronze Pioneers out on patrol, Roach sighed and quickly unlocked the door. I pushed him aside and went down the stairs.

"Boss, I'm warning you! You might be a little... overwhelmed." Roach finished. He opened the door and the two of us slipped inside.

Whatever I had been expecting, nothing could have compared me for what I saw. The room was twice the size of the building it was located beneath and absolutely filled with people, at very least a hundred, from all walks of life. Fishermen, little local merchants, prostitutes and more than a few soldiers. Roach had certainly been busy. And on the far wall overlooking the entire "temple" was a huge white sheet bearing an image that I hadn't seen in over a thousand years. It was the Unconquered Sun.

I stared. It was all I could do. I'd expected a hovel filled with the usual cult miscreants and malcontents, maybe dressed in ridiculous robes or stripped completely naked. What I hadn't anticipated was that there would be real power in that place. Whatever Roach and his Murqai friends were saying… there was no doubt in my mind that the Unconquered Sun was hearing it.

More importantly, I sensed that The Unconquered Sun was aware… eminently aware of the fact that I had just walked into his temple. I felt what could only be considered a little "nudge" of approval. The shock of _knowing _that the God's eyes were on me almost sent me tumbling down the stairs.

"So, what do you think?" Roach pressed.

"I don't believe it." I shook my head.

"Me neither. A lot of heretics in this city, eh?" He winked.

"No… well, yes! But that's not what I meant! Roach, he's _here_! The Unconquered Sun is watching us right now!"

"Heh. Cool." Roach smiled slightly, as if he thought that maybe I was humoring him.

All eyes were on Roach. He waved. "Sorry I'm late. And as you can see, I brought my Boss. Most of you already know who he is." He discreetly elbowed me in the back and I stumbled forward. The room fell completely silent.

"This is your cult!" I hissed. "What do you want me to say?"

The silence was unnerving. I cleared my throat. "Hi. My name is Loren, and I... I'm here, I guess?" I couldn't really finish the sentence that I'd begun, but the murmur that raced through the room made it seem an awful lot like I'd said something both brilliant and controversial.

"Oi, you sound like an idiot!" Roach brushed me aside. "Go ahead, turn on your flashlight!"

"What?" I hissed.

"The little flashy light on your head?" Roach clarified.

"Roach!" I gaped at him. "All of these people and you just want me to..."

"Oh, c'mon! I know it's not hard!" He rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe I'm doing this for you!" I groaned, took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Oddly enough, expending just the smallest bit of Essence made me feel more comfortable, sort of like opening a window to let in some fresh air.

I waited for all of the cursing and expressions of shock to die down and then looked up. I was surrounded in a faint haze of gold that made me feel like a target. Even when I rose through the ranks of the army, I had never adopted the ostentatious dress that so many officers did. I wasn't interested in being highly visible… and by extension, more likely to be shot. And if I had learned nothing from our raid on Sesus Nagezzer's compound and my brief tussle with the Shoat of the Mire, there was nothing in all of Creation more impossible to ignore than someone blazing with Solar Essence in the middle of the night.

When the light around me didn't fade, the whispering started up again. There was obviously some confusion, some doubt as to whether I really was what I appeared to be, and if so… was it safe to be anywhere near me?

"Yeah, I can hear what you're all whispering. Is he really a demon?" Roach sighed.

"No! The Realm tells us that Solars are Anathema because they don't want us to help them... which is _exactly _what we need to be doing!" He gestured to a group of Murqai in the back of the room and I recognized Salakhin amongst them. "The Illuminated are here in Creation to help us, and if we give them the chance, they are going to make this world a better place! You all know that one of our local Solars rebuilt that fountain in Glassmaker's Alley. Water's still pretty good there, hunh? And you also know that some of our Solars got Sesus Nagezzer chased out of town and rescued a bunch of girls that bastard had sold to the Fae! Some of you who live down in Tellnaught have probably seen piles of hagfish guts floating out of the sewers. And you know those guts are coming from hagfish that _won't_ be eating anybody's kids! So the next time you see Shadowsbane or one of her exterminators, go ahead and thank them for their good work!"

One of the Southerners I recognized vaguely as a friend of Sapphire's proudly held up the armband he wore which had the emblem of the University of Nexus on it and in red the word "Firewander". He grinned very broadly.

Roach paused. "The Unconquered Sun _chose_ Loren, just as the Dragonbloods are chosen by the Dragons. Well, it's not even as simple as the Dragonblooded… they can guess who'll Exalt cause it's in their breeding. But when the Unconquered Sun picks someone to serve him, it's not about what family they were born into! It's about _who they are. _Take my Boss here! If you were walking across a desert with him and you only had one bottle of water between the two of you, he'd let you carry it! You could drink every last drop and he'd never complain, he'd just_assume_ that you needed it more than he did!" Roach paused.

"All his life, Loren asked the Dragons – What can I do? How can I serve you? Do you want me to meditate, do you want me to study? Do you want me to help people? He did all of that stuff. Never got Chosen by the Dragons... but the Unconquered Sun noticed him, and he decided that he needed him. That didn't sit well with Loren at first. You see, he's always been a believer. And he really thought that he'd turned into some kind of demon! He tried not to let anyone see how strong he'd become. He'd pick up wounded men with the same kind of care that you might pick up a baby bird fallen out of its nest and then pretended that he hadn't done anything. He kept protecting all of us, even when he thought that we might kill him."

"I've been trying not to bring Loren into this because… well, I know how hard it is to accept that Solars even exist. But if you want to be a part of this… if you really believe in what we're trying to do here, then sooner or later you're going to have to recognize that this isn't some little heresy that's going to get you thrown in the stocks."

"This is _big_. This is bigger than Nexus, bigger than the whole Realm! All of Creation is going to change." Roach continued. "The first thing you've got to understand is that everything you've been told is wrong! The Dragonbloods are trying to wipe out "Anathema", not because they're evil, but because they don't want us mortals to get the idea that _we_ can be as good as _they_are!" Roach paused, glancing slowly in my direction. "Or better."

The applause was deafening. As one of the Murqai took the center stage for a sermon, Roach and I slipped back upstairs and out the door.

"Looks like you've got a gift." I smiled slightly.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know." Roach shrugged. "Maybe I can't stop armies of faeries dead in their tracks, but I can spread the good word a little. That I can do."

"It's… a little bit much, don't you think? I'm not a saint!" I sighed. "And I don't think all Solars are all goodness and light. Look at Quill! He's a lunatic!"

"I don't know. Quill can be a jerk, but he's also a genius! He knows who's cheating who, who's in who's pocket... and he _makes everyone in this city_ behave. Well, he lets people get away with an awful lot, but when someone crosses a serious line – like Nagezzer, he's on them right away. I watched him beat some crooked politicians at mahjong the other night! He kept raising the stakes until they had to turn themselves into the authorities and confess everything they'd done!" Roach laughed.

"The Dragonbloods want to kill off all the Solars for a reason, Roach." I protested.

"Yeah, because they're mostly bastards." He scoffed.

"Maybe so." I admitted uneasily. "I think there might be something wrong with us."

"Why are you always so paranoid?" Roach laughed.

"So what do you know about this Dorian?" I decided to change the subject.

"Not much." Roach admitted. "He's the most powerful man in the city besides The Emissary. Some people say he is The Emissary."

"Ah." I observed. "And you don't think so?"

"Uh, I caught him talking to the Emissary on the roof of Anathema's about a week ago. Didn't hear what they were going on about but... it's safe to say they're _not _the same person. Dorian definitely seems to have a stake in this city but Viper's pretty convinced that he shouldn't get too much more power. According to her, the current God of the city is doing an okay job and we both know that Quill and Sapphire mop up the rest of the local lowlives. In the position he's in now, Dorian's sort of… contained, basically. He can't do as much as he wants to, and that's probably a good thing." Roach admitted.

"Did Viper tell you what she has against Dorian?" I wondered.

"Not specifically, but then again… I didn't really ask her." He shrugged. "But one thing's for sure – there's no way you should trust that guy. Viper likes everybody, even the people she pretends to hate. If she _really _doesn't like someone, they're bad news."

"You've been spending a lot of time at Anathema's lately. Almost as much time as you've been spending with this cult of yours." I paused.

"I can't help it, Loren! You've met Viper! How does any man say no to a woman like that? She drinks me under the table, she cooks like you wouldn't believe, she wants to spend _all day _in bed - _and_she tosses the drunks out of her own bar! I'm in love."

I sighed. "Viper's a Lunar, Roach. An _old_Lunar."

"So? C'mon buddy, gimme some advice! How do you get a woman like that... you know, exclusive?"

"No, Roach. I'm not going to help you get yourself into more trouble!" I informed him flatly.

"What about you and Amira?" He protested.

"It's different!"

"How is it different?" He demanded.

I didn't really have an argument for him, nothing that would sound convincing. And so despite how bad it made me feel… I settled for the truth. "Because I'm a Solar!"

"That's it? You really think I don't have a chance with Viper just because she's a Lunar? Well, your father was an Exalt and your mother wasn't! You always told me that you thought it was wrong, tossing a person out on the street like a piece of old furniture. Those people you used to hate so much? You'd better watch out, cause you're turning into one of them!" Without another word, Roach stomped off.

I was about to follow him when a hand stopped me. I turned very slowly and saw that Dorian Gray had just slipped out of the hidden temple.

"Finally! I thought that imbecile would never leave!" Dorian remarked dryly.

"Roach is my friend!" I protested.

"He's a nuisance, just like that Quill. Has to stir the pot and get people all riled up for no reason. I dislike men who do that." Dorian replied, examining his nails with an expression on his face that I did not like at all.

"All right, that's enough! What do you want from me?" I demanded.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" He bowed cordially in my direction. "Faeslayer, as you already know... I am a God and no petty one either. I have a seat on The Convention on Bureaucratic Corruption in Yu Shan and I also work for the Bureau of Destiny in another capacity which I am not at liberty to reveal to you... _yet_. Tonight I come on behalf of the one man who can give me an order that I am _compelled_ to obey. Tomorrow is the first night of Calibration, and as you well know, a very secret organization known as the Three Circles Society will be meeting. Until such time as this meeting is called to order, his Eminence, The Emissary of Nexus, politely requests that you and your companions _limit _your usual Anathema activities to only those of a most minor variety. The Scarlet Legion is going to be combing this city looking for you and your cohorts and they had best not find you... no matter what kind of lengths they go to in order to draw you out. In other words, keep your head down. "

"Not a problem." I paused, searching the God's face for some sort of reaction. From what Recluse had told me, I had good reason to believe that The Emissary was a Solar. At first I'd believed that one of my Circlemates was actually the infamous masked man, but the more I'd come to know Quill and Recluse, the more I'd begun to doubt the possibility that either of them could be over seven hundred years old. "Tell The Emissary that he's welcome to... supervise our meeting. We could use his help."

"Oh, he will. Supervise, that is. _Help_... well, I doubt it." Without another word, Dorian vanished.

I passed by Anathema's a little while later and noticed Roach standing on the corner talking to Viper. Though I knew I needed to get some sleep, I couldn't bring myself to lie down and close my eyes.

I decided that Veritas was probably down in the undercity with Godchaser, working his hands to the bone... using every Charm that he knew to speed his progress. It had been Quill's last minute decision to move the entire control mechanism of the Well of Udr from its temporary home under Nighthammer back to its original location, which was not where Sapphire had discovered it in The Temple of The Unconquered Sun, but where Recluse's records indicated that it had been built, a massive ruin inside the Firewander District called "White Gold Tower". White Gold Tower was the manse that was connected to Recluse's green hearthstone. It was also the location of the Solar Sanctuary that the Red Queen that had been so eager to discover how to get into. So many things were finally coming together in ways that I did not like at all.

I did, however, agree with Quill on one count. If there was a chance that activating the Well could have catastrophic consequences, it would by much safer for us to do so inside White Gold Tower where the Sanctuary and Wyld surrounding us could prevent any damage from spreading out into Nexus.

The spell that had created the Sanctuary was Adamant Circle Sorcery, and despite being cast more than 1,500 years ago, it had preserved a small section of White Gold Tower from the ravages of the Wyld. Needless to say, Recluse was inordinately proud of his past incarnation's accomplishment and spent many hours praising the brilliance of her sorcery and the undeniable usefulness of a Charm he called "The Art of Permanence". Because of Perfect's efforts before the fall of the Deliberative, White Gold Tower had been only manse that we hadn't needed to excavate or reconstruct.

I hadn't actually seen the Solar Sanctuary yet myself, but I'd heard Recluse and Godchaser whispering about it several times and I knew its general location. It was dangerous walking right into Firewander alone, but I had learned a good Charm that would protect me from the Wyld and I was prepared to draw my daiklave on anything that got in my way.

I didn't expect Roach to actually follow me into Firewander knowing full well that there was some Solar mess fermenting beneath the streets of Nexus that he had no part in.

As per usual, I seriously underestimated him.


	10. Chapter 10 - Inside Firewander

Chapter Ten - Dawn

There are a total of 15 chapters planned for this story, so we are getting quite close to the end. This is a rather short chapter.

I know it seems like there's an awful lot for me to wrap up (as of right now), but keep reading! Comments and questions appreciated!

Roach caught up with me on the edge of Firewander. I was standing near the district wall, trying to prepare myself to enter the Wyld and deal with whatever welcoming committee the Fae had surely assembled for me. Late as it was, there were only two city guards and a few Bronze Pioneers on patrol. It wasn't too hard to keep people out of Firewander. Anyone with sense avoided the Fae-infested district like the plague.

"Boss!" Roach hissed, racing up to match pace with me.

"Roach? What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Coming with you." He informed me, as if that wasn't obvious.

"Roach, you can't just walk into the Wyld!" I fell silent.

Roach was staring at me with his hands on his hips. He didn't look convinced by my excuse.

"And _you_ can?" He pressed.

"Well, with um... Chaos-Repelling Pattern?" I admitted. It had taken me forever to learn the Charm from Quill, but I had to admit that it was a very useful one.

"Which will _also _protect me if I stay right next to you!" Roach informed me with a smirk, striding forward so that we stood shoulder to shoulder.

"How did you know that?" I wondered. There was no sense in telling him that he was wrong, because he already knew that he wasn't.

"Godchaser. That flying carpet knows _everything_." Roach informed me. "Loren, you don't know what the Fae have got waiting for you in there. You're better off with someone watching your back!" He added.

"I don't want you to get hurt." I informed him.

"And I don't want me to get hurt either! So we're completely in agreement." He replied.

I rolled my eyes. The two of us stood and stared up at the ominous iron gates that barred off the entrance to the Firewander District. Knowing how much what I was about to do would infuriate Roach, I leapt effortlessly to the top of the wall.

Roach made a face. I thought for a moment that he was about to start yelling at me and maybe wake the guards, but then a rope flew over my head, a steel clawed grappling hook catching in the crevasse between two bricks. I stared in disbelief as Roach quickly zipped up to join me on the top of the wall. I didn't have the opportunity to ask him where he'd learned the trick he'd just picked up. He tied a red scarf around his head marked with the telltale insignia of Sapphire's infamous "Team Firewander".

"You've been busy." I observed. Between tending to his cult, spying on Veritas and joining up with Sapphire's sewer slayers... was there anything Roach hadn't gotten involved in?

"If you'd just let me stick with you, I wouldn't be so bored all the time!" He informed me.

"All right, I'm sorry!" I sighed in defeat. "I was wrong not to tell you what was going on." I paused. "Actually, I was wrong about a lot of things."

He smiled slightly. "And you were right about... some other things." He informed me. He didn't say what, and I didn't press. I wondered if it didn't have something to do with Emerald Viper.

We entered the Firewander District.

I invoked my Charm and as he'd vowed. Roach kept right on my heels inside of the faintly flickering sphere of golden light, his sword drawn.

Around us was a vast sea of black, red and purple. Nothing seemed to have a shape, and even the ground looked like rolling thunderclouds, except within ten feet of where I stood. Rippling pools of Wyld became grey paving stones, not the kind that were commonly used in the Nexus that we knew so well, but the kind that were everywhere more than 1,500 years ago. Obviously, no one had set foot in the part of Firewander that we were exploring in quite awhile.

Though I expected that the two of us would have to fight our way to White Gold Tower, not a single Fae monster moved to stop us on our path. I could see the shapes of goblins sometimes in the dark, but it was as if they were only watching, not preparing for battle. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of drifting through formless nothingness, we came within sight of White Gold Tower.

Surrounded by an aura of blazing gold, the Solar Sanctuary, it was everything I'd imagined that it would be, a spectacular building designed and constructed by the greatest architect of The Deliberative. Perfect Mechanical Soul had a way of designing spaces that made anyone who stepped inside of them feel unforgivably small and insignificant, and White Gold Tower, Perfect's palatial residence, was even more impressive than her factory cathedral manse.

"We're being followed." Roach informed me.

I stopped staring at the tower immediately and went for my daiklave. It was cumbersome to carry strapped to my back and no swords are really made for drawing up over the shoulder, but I hadn't been sure that all of my Charms would work inside of the Firewander Wyld so I'd come prepared.

"Come out!" I ordered to the Wyld. "We know you're there!"

I expected some goblins, or maybe a very arrogant Fae lord... but what did emerge from the swirling miasma of purple and black was something even darker than the malevolent churning Wyld.

The chaos seemed to solidify around the Deathknight, just as my Chaos-Repelling Pattern kept it at bay.

The Shoat of the Mire observed Roach with a malicious little smile on her face and one of her usually invisible chains snaked out of her funerary robes.

I was too fast for her, parrying the blade before it would have taken Roach's head clean off... but apparently the Shoat hadn't come alone. A quick-moving shadow dropped down from somewhere above and Roach let out an incoherent curse as a black steel mace crushed the stone under my feet with the force of a battering ram.

"Sister!" The Shoat exclaimed joyfully, and I got my first clear look at the woman who'd already almost killed me. She was even paler than the Shoat, obviously a dead thing with a face that might have been attractive once, except that her eyes lacked any spark of humanity and her lips were drawn back to reveal a mouth full of jagged, yellowed teeth and uneven stitches.

The Shoat's "Sister" lost no time at all and nearly caught me again with her mace, but not before Roach decided that there was more than one good use for his new grappling hook. He threw the thing with so much force that it imbedded itself with a nasty squishing sound in the Shoat's back.

The Shoat grinned wickedly and took control of the new "chain" she'd been given, almost wrapping Roach up in his own rope, except that he cut it with his sword. As the Shoat pulled back, something in the Wyld seized hold of Roach's flailing rope and caused it to lose all physical integrity.

She fired two of her chains in my direction and a third at Roach, who hit the ground, almost tumbling into the Wyld. I had more trouble than I could handle with Sister and was busy parrying the Deathknight's flurry of blows.

Roach staggered to his feet. He elbowed me in the ribs and I looked exactly where he must have wanted me to... in the direction of White Gold Tower. Were we closer than we had been before? It certainly seemed that way.

Though I didn't want to risk leaving Roach behind, I had to admit that he had a good point. I waited until the Shoat tried her chains for the third time. Roach drove his sword through one link of the chain, pinning it to the ground and I took advantage of the opportunity to send Sister flying with the flat of my blade. I would have given the Deathknight the edge of the weapon and killed her if I could have, but we'd somehow been transported miraculously to the steps of White Gold Tower and there was not enough space in the doorway for me to get a good swing.

Still parrying the Shoat, I almost didn't notice when her blows stopped connecting with my daiklave.

Somehow, Roach and I were both standing inside of the Solar Sanctuary. The Wyld still raged only a few feet away, but we'd made it to White Gold Tower.

The Shoat and her Sister both watched us where we stood and hesitantly paced the perimeter of the the ancient spell.

The Shoat gingerly reached out to touch the fluxing energies. The tips of her little white fingers almost passed through the golden Essence, but then like a scalded cat, she leapt back ten feet and hissed viciously, extending all of her chains at once. She glanced up in the direction of Sister and the two Deathknights slowly began to back away.

"So... Deathknights?" Roach observed, catching his breath.

"Yep." I nodded, not taking my eyes off the two.

"I thought you said there was just that little one. How many of them are there anyway?" Roach demanded.

I grimaced. "With our luck? Probably a dozen. Or more."

Though the Deathknights were still slowly walking away, I didn't fool myself into thinking that they wouldn't return... or look for another way inside White Gold Tower. After trading blows with the Shoat of the Mire once, I was not inclined to test her older "Sister" without someone like Recluse or Sapphire backing me up.

"Get outta here, small fry! You two had better run!" Roach hooted, picking up a chunk of marble and flinging it in the general direction of the Deathknights. They looked genuinely confused, but not really impressed.

I smiled despite myself and patted Roach on the back.

"That little girl killed four of my father's best men!" I informed him.

He beamed. "I'm gonna risk it. Hey, snaggletooth!" He shouted, hurling a second piece of marble. For the second time, he missed, and before he could find himself a third projectile, the Deathknights reached the bottom of the stairs and disappeared into the swirling darkness of the Wyld.

They obviously had tricks for enduring it as well as a Solar or a Lunar could, and that worried me.

What worried me more was that the Fae, despite the fact that they'd clearly been expecting us, had not made any sort of moves at all.

Roach and I entered into the main audience hall of White Gold Tower. It was an awe-inspiring space much like Recluse's manse built on a similar scale and with a color palette that made its name no mystery. In the center of the room where Quill had helped Recluse to move it was the control mechanism for the Well of Udr, the table and five chairs around it, set upon a raised dias about twenty feet in diameter and two feet high.

But for the first time that I'd ever seen, the top of the table was open. A faint blue flicker of light rose from the Well. Of course, I knew that the substance within was not water, but some sort of Elsewhere muck, a flimsy section of the fabric of reality that our previous incarnations had isolated and turned into a gateway beyond Fate.

Though I wouldn't admit such a thing to Roach, I was more than a little nervous to be stepping into it.

I obviously wasn't the only one feeling some trepidation. There were more than a dozen people mulling around White Gold Tower, all of them casting furtive glances in the direction of the Well when they suspected that no one else was looking.

Sapphire and Quill were absorbed in a serious game of Go which Quill seemed to be losing badly.

Viper was lounging on Amira's lap, and big man I recognized as Silvermane was standing guard near the door I had entered through. Very close to the Well, a fox Lunar I'd never seen before was arguing with a bespectacled scholar in a high-collared, long-sleeved, tan robe. When the scholar lifted his arm to scratch his nose, he revealed sleeves of moonsilver tattoos that completely covered every inch of his skin. I knew immediately that he could only be Sapphire's friend, Val.

"Trouble, Faeslayer?" Silvermane smiled slightly.

"Deathknights." I informed him. "I doubt they can actually get in here, but they seemed very intent on killing us before we reached the doors."

"Hm. That doesn't bode well." He paused. "I'll send some Resplendent Whirlagigs out to look for them. Veritas has worked out a very clever way to make our surveillance devices immune to the Wyld."

"Where is Recluse anyway?" I wondered. Silvermane coughed in a manner that suggested he didn't think he should be answering my question.

Surprisingly, one person I didn't see was the one who'd basically moved into White Gold Tower weeks ago. Noticing that I had arrived, Godchaser swooped over in my direction.

"Maker!" The construct announced. "Faeslayer is here!"

There was a sudden thump and that was when I realized where Recluse had been. He'd apparently rolled off a couch in the corner and was furiously scrambling for his shirt, his belt, and his glasses.

What surprised me more than his state of disarray was how attractive the woman he'd been fooling around with was. In fairness, Recluse wasn't bad looking himself, but the lady who'd been in the process of undressing him was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life.

Her skin was absolutely flawless and glowed like honey, as if she'd spent every day of her life soaking up the sun on some far away beach. Her eyes were cerulean blue, and her hair was a color that made me think of rich port wine, curls cascading all the way down her back.

As much as I loved Amira, I couldn't stop myself from staring. It wasn't helping matters that the only thing the woman was wearing was a shirt not quite long enough to be considered a dress and an orichalcum pendant in the shape of a radiant sun. If she'd stepped out in front of a Wyld Hunt just as she was then and declared herself a Solar, I rather suspected that all of the men and most of the women would have thrown down their weapons immediately.

In a word, she was _magnificent._

Roach gave a low whistle and took in all there was to see shamelessly, at least until he noticed Viper. Then he put his hands behind his back and pretended not to be the least bit interested.

"You must be Windswept Rhapsody." I observed.

"Guilty as charged." The woman winked mischievously. The way that she spoke reminded me a bit of Viper or Sapphire. Despite the fact that she looked like a queen, she sounded like someone who traded in certain kinds of dubious "favors" for a living, like a whore or a bard, which I knew she was. Even still, she was very charismatic.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Faeslayer. Veritas has told me so much. Oi, Devil!" She shouted.

"The lecherous old hag arguing with Professor Ferret over there is Clever Devil, my sister from another mother." Rhapsody explained, jerking her thumb in the direction of Val and the fox Lunar. The fox Lunar came bounding over to her side. Clever Devil was a much older woman, maybe even fifty, wearing simple, meticulously mended traveler's clothing. Her Tell was obviously the russet fur in her short-cropped red hair. There were a lot of scars on her face and hands. She looked every bit as old as Rhapsody didn't, but I sensed somehow that the two of them balanced one another as only a Solar and Lunar pair ever could. Devil's scars were on her face. Rhapsody's were clearly more difficult to see.

"I thought we moved the Well in order to keep it a secret?" I turned to Recluse, who blushed horrifically.

"You'd be surprised at how few secrets actually are _secret_." A familiar voice interrupted.

There was a stranger standing not four feet behind me. He was young and supremely nondescript, with the exception of his brilliant yellow eyes. But before I could inquire as to how he got into our Solar Sanctuary, which I was beginning to suspect not actually secure at all, Recluse noticed him.

He groaned.

Godchaser wrinkled her nose. "What do you want, _Sidereal_?" The construct demanded.

"Ouch!" The stranger exclaimed. His appearance changed immediately, his hair becoming shorter and freckles appearing suddenly on his previously bland face. Before I could guess what had happened, I was left standing face-to-face with someone I did know, a young soldier I'd recruited into The Ravenous Winds very recently.

"Sam?" Roach blinked in surprise, remembering the boy's name before I did.

"You know Sam?" Sapphire wondered.

"We do. He served with us in the Winds. Joined up about a year ago." Roach explained.

"That can't be right. Sam's a busboy at The Divine Peach. It's my favorite restaurant and he always does my table! He's been working there for like five years!" Sapphire informed us.

"Oh, I'm sure we _all _know Sam." Veritas snorted with distaste. "If that is his name."

"It is." Sam replied. "Not that you'd believe me."

"Playing every side there is to play, are you?" Quill demanded. He used a tone that I did not like at all. Even knowing what I did about Sidereals, I didn't believe they were as bad as both Veritas and Quill seemed to. I felt as though I should have sensed some sort of malice coming from Sam if he was anything but trustworthy. Odd as it seemed, I was more comfortable in the presence of the first Sidereal I had ever knowingly met than I was around my own Circlemate, Adamant Quill.

"Isn't that what you're doing, Adamant Quill?" Sam surveyed the room. Clever Devil shot him a paralysing glare and the other Lunars did not seem happy to see him at all, except for Viper who gave him a wink that made me suspect she'd drug him off to bed more than once.

"How long have you been following us?" I asked uneasily.

Sam sighed heavily. "You in particular, or your circle in general?"

"Both." Sapphire added.

"I've been assigned to the Three Circles Society for the past five years. But you've all been followed for longer than that. All of you have been watched every day of your lives." Sam explained. "You must understand, one does not simply approach a Solar Exalt and say '_Hello, I work for the Bureau of Destiny!_' Generally speaking, Solars like being in control. And Sidereals like me are agents of Fate, which is the one thing that you cannot control. Understand?"

"I don't like the idea of being spied on." I remarked.

"No one does. Which is why we try to be very quiet about what we do." Sam explained. "The only reason I'm here now is that I have a message to relay."

"As Sidereals go, Sam is decent enough." Recluse admitted grudgingly. As unbelievable as it may sound, he's actually helped me in the past. Go on, spit it out!" He ordered.

"I'm here on orders from Oversight." The Sidereal replied. "Which is also known as "The Convention on Knots". In this case, I am part of the sub-committee on The Emissary and The Well of Udr. My superiors have instructed me to inform all of you that someone has accessed the Loom of Fate in a manner that is not permitted."

"The Green Lady." Sapphire interrupted.

Sam looked very surprised to hear that name spoken, but he didn't confirm or deny Sapphire's guess. "The one that you should know about is a very old Sidereal who is currently working for a Deathlord. She has not reported in to her superiors since last Calibration and there is a very high probability that she already on the other side of the Well of Udr, trying to return to this world. The Bureau of Heaven does not appreciate when its agents go rogue, and so Oversight has determined that The Green Lady should not be allowed to return to Creation. It is likely that she has an accomplice here in Nexus who may be helping her to that end. But so far, nothing can be proven. Whoever is assisting her is clearly powerful and slippery... and committing a number of Severity Five offences."

"That's bad?" I wondered.

"Oh, you can be executed for a Severity Three, depending on whom you've upset!" Sam informed me.

"It must be Himitsu." Recluse decided. It wasn't the first time I'd heard him utter that name. Personally, I still didn't really know who Himitsu was, but Clever Devil and Windswept Rhapsody looked deathly serious. Obviously, he was someone that they didn't like at all.

"Nothing can be proven." Sam repeated.

"It's Himitsu." Godchaser replied, sounding very certain. Then again, the construct always sounded certain. I supposed that nothing in her construction gave her the capacity for doubt.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything more. You'll have to take it up with Whisper." Sam finished.

"Whisper's our chief nursemaid." Quill smirked, sauntering over in my direction. "You'll love her, Faeslayer. She's just as neurotic and easily embarrassed as you are."

I scowled and refrained from seizing his collar and smashing his face into the Well.

"She's also quite brilliant. And a very good actress, if you actually believe that she's really neurotic." Recluse added. Quill frowned.

"Suffice to say that there's really no telling what The Green Lady is doing or what she's already done, but you need to carry through with your plans and activate the Well _tonight._" Sam finished, not bothering to add his own opinion of his superior. "I'd go with you, naturally, but I'd need to complete a half dozen applications and waivers and on top of all of that, I've really no way of knowing how useful I would be outside of Fate."

"Of course not." Recluse smiled slightly.

"So is everyone else here coming along?" I wondered, stepping up onto the raised dias which surrounded the Well.

"That was the original plan, but now I'm beginning to think that some of us ought to stay behind." Sapphire admitted. "Sam is right. This Well isn't the secret we thought it was and right now too many of our enemies know that we've moved it. It's not just the Sidereals we need to look out for either. Those Deathknights, the Fae?" She suggested. "This Solar Sanctuary may be difficult to get through, but it's not as strong as it once was. And if anything in this manse fails while we're inside The Well..."

I thought of what I'd seen The Shoat do and shuddered slightly.

"Certain parties have had some time to stew over how to get in here." Windswept Rhapsody remarked. "It would be idiocy to underestimate the Dowager."

"Or Himitsu." Clever Devil added.

"Or the Red Queen." Viper supplied.

"I'll stay. Make sure nothing comes through into Creation, and nothing follows you out." Silvermane offered.

"I'm staying too. Devil and I can handle Himitsu if he rears his ugly little head. And we still owe him a ruthless beating!" Rhapsody volunteered. Recluse looked ready to protest, but Clever Devil gave him a condescending look.

"As much as I'd love to see what's over there, with ah, Veritas going, I should probably stay. I could, ah... well, I could probably fix anything that breaks? I am a sorcerer." Val volunteered.

"And _I'm_ a drunk!" Viper informed all of us, hiccuping. "The next time ya'll are saving the world, you gotta to warn me before I start taking _shots_ with Burning Feather!"

"You know, Calibration doesn't officially begin until midnight!" I reminded her, doubting that she was as drunk as she pretended to be. But then again, if she really had been drinking with the Goddess of Intoxicants, maybe she wasn't acting after all.

"Are you kidding?" Rhapsody laughed. "Viper's party started three days ago!"

"Boss, it _is_ almost midnight." Roach informed me.

"Well, I suppose that settles it. Time to do this." I paused. "Amira?"

"Oh, I'm going with you!" Amira grinned broadly. Quill looked annoyed.

"It would be unfair to not send along at least one representative of Sun-King Seneshals to explore this new world!" Silvermane added.

Looping her arms around me, Amira waltzed in the direction of my chair in front of the Well, pushed me down and sat on my lap. The Well burbled slightly, and arcane symbols on the dias began to glow as Quill and Sapphire stepped up and took their seats.

All of the other Lunars kept a smart distance from circle. The Sidereal stood even further away, still watching us all with grin.

Recluse kissed Rhapsody twice and she tousled his hair. Godchaser swooped around his shoulders and he sat down himself.

"All right then. Let's do this." He decided, putting on his circlet.

I put on my own and clenched the hilt of my daiklave. If I didn't let it out of my grasp, I could guarantee that it would pass through the Well with us. Of course, Amira's deadly "stupid stick" was never out of her reach, formed into a bracelet around her right wrist that she kneaded nervously, perhaps wondering if it would be better to have the weapon drawn before we passed through the Well. Obviously thinking the same, Recluse had his lightning spear ready and Sapphire kept one hand on her firewands. Quill didn't have an obvious weapon, but then again... I'd never seen the madman in a situation that he couldn't confound his way out of.

Essence began to flow through the floor under our feet. I could feel some of it being drawn from my own body through the channels on the table and on the chair I was sitting in. The Well rippled and flickered.

That was when Roach sat down next to me. Recluse blanched. His caste mark had already begun to flicker and I suspected that mine was on the verge of doing the same.

"I'm coming too." Roach informed all of us, who were staring at him in shock.

"Roach, you can't!" I argued.

"Yes, I can!" He informed me.

"The Well draws a phenomenal amount of Essence and we've already started activating it! We can't stop now and we don't know how it will react once it's fully operational. It could drain the reserves everyone in White Gold Tower!" Recluse protested.

"So? I don't have Essence!" Roach replied proudly.

"That's why it's bad, you idiot!" Quill groaned. "You _do _have Essence! All living things have Essence! Your Essence is your soul, but you don't have enough of it to _use_ it! If the Well drew the same amount of Essence from both of us, I'd have a mild headache... and you'd be dead!"

"Feh! I have _way _more soul than you do!" Roach informed him.

I didn't have the opportunity to get in another word. Light blossomed up all around us, obscuring the faces of our protectors and finally the whole of White Gold Tower.

The last thing I saw was Sam smiling. He looked just like Quill always did, as if he knew much more than he was telling. I would have demanded answers from him if I guessed that he could hear me over the rushing sound of wind and water and the horrible, earth-shattering rumbling of the Well.

Sam's eyes were fixed on Roach.


	11. Chapter 11 - Twilight

Chapter 11 – TWILIGHT

My head was pounding when I regained consciousness. I felt completely drained of Essence though I could sense that my Caste Mark wasn't even flickering. Godchaser's normally inconsequential weight had somehow quadrupled. With her tendrils looped all around me, I felt like I was encased in a sarcophagus of solid lead. I was certain that activating the Well had done _something _horrible but I hadn't the foggiest idea what. That bothered me. I'd gotten very used to having all of the answers since meeting Sam, Whisper, and their Gold Faction cohorts. Information _was _one thing Sidereals were good for. Of course, it wasn't wise to trust everything they said, but there were ways of separating the truth from the fiction.

"Godchaser?" I whispered. She didn't respond. Whatever had drained all of my Essence had rendered her inanimate. Once, I would have believed that her silence was a kind of death... but I'd learned a lot more about how my companion worked in the past several months and I knew that once she was full of Essence again, she'd be nagging me as if no time had passed at all.

I opened my eyes and saw absolutely nothing. A few choice curses escaped me. Was I blind?

A faint red haze on the edges of my field of vision suggested that the effect was temporary. I noticed a few blurry shapes on the floor around me. One of them was a petite woman, probably Sapphire. Faeslayer was unmistakable, bigger than anyone save Silvermane.

Very slowly, the hearthstones I wore around my neck and in my circlet began to work, helping me to replenish my own Essence. I laid still for what must have been an hour, listening for anything that might tell me where I was or what had happened, but all I could hear was the familiar pulsing of The Well.

I was a little annoyed to realize that we hadn't gone anywhere, but at the same time very glad that I wouldn't be braving uncharted territory without my Essence or my sight.

When Godchaser's weight no longer held me pinned to the ground, I sat up slowly. I still couldn't see much, but I'd worked out the sound of someone breathing close to me.

Considering that whoever it was smelled very strongly of Western-style cooking and Emerald Viper's toxic "Lunar Brew", I guessed that it was probably Viper or Roach.

"Ah, that was exciting!" Quill exclaimed, not sounding bothered by the ordeal we'd gone through at all. I heard the sound of his boots on the marble floor and realized he'd been walking around. How long had the rest of us been unconscious? I didn't know, but several hours seemed like a safe guess. "Finally waking up, are we? Is everyone in one piece?" Quill inquired.

Neither Roach nor Amira responded, but Sapphire managed something that sounded like a strangled cat and Loren groaned.

"I can't see a blasted thing." I admitted. "But I'm awake, and I've been regaining some Essence."

"Your sight will come back. I probably should have warned you all to close your eyes when we activated the Well." Quill admitted.

"Wait, you knew this would happen?" Loren demanded. It sounded like he tried to use his daiklave to stand up... unsuccessfully.

Quill didn't answer him. "Ah, what a beautiful sunrise!" He exclaimed, obviously looking at something none of us could see. "You're all missing it!"

When I was finally able to stand, I rose to my feet. Loren was waking up Roach, who muttered something incoherent. Against all odds, he seemed to have fared as well as the rest of us.

"This way, everyone!" Quill proclaimed. Amira growled at him.

I didn't like the idea of following after the madman myself, but since I couldn't see, I realized that I didn't have much of a choice. A sense of familiarity came over me as I hobbled in the direction that I was being summoned, using my lightning spear as a cane and moving very slowly with my left hand on the outer wall of the room. We were still inside White Gold Tower!

But if we were in one of my manses, why did the geomancy I sensed when I touched the marble feel so different?

We followed Quill outdoors, into a space that I knew had once been a garden. The last I'd seen it, it had been infested with hagfish and festering pools of primordial muck. What worried me was that I hadn't felt the faintest pinprick of energy when we left the Tower proper. Where was the stability of the Solar Sanctuary erected to keep out the Wyld? Had we destroyed it by activating the Well? Was Quill planning on feeding the lot of us to the Fae?

Those were the kind of thoughts that raced through my head, at least until Godchaser awoke.

"Ugh. I don't feel good!" She complained. "I need Essence!"

"So do I." I informed her. "You're going to have to wait." I reached up into my hood and put her mask down over my face.

"Maker!" As soon as she could see, she gasped in awe. "Oh, Maker, how did you do it?"

"I don't know what you're looking at, Godchaser." I informed her. "At present, I can't see. I apparently looked into a rather bright flash. Everything is still very fuzzy to me. Where are we?"

"White Gold Tower. Your garden, Maker." She replied. "But it's beautiful! It's so beautiful!"

Knowing Godchaser's particular tastes as well as I did, I was surprised to hear her say such a thing. Nothing much impressed her, unless it was impressive by the standards of the High First Age.

"Whoa." Sapphire gave a low whistle. Apparently, she could see more than I could. "This is unbelievable! All of this was in ruins yesterday and today it's _perfect_!"

"Pests detected. Exterminate." It was the voice of a construct, a hovering sphere much like my little Resplendent Whirlagigs. The larger models, however, had been built for more than simply reconnaissance. It trained a tiny but deadly Essence weapon on Loren, who blinked at it in confusion.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Oh. Oh dear." Quill observed.

"No! Bad Drone WD456!" Godchaser scolded, swooping off of my shoulders. "No exterminating guests!"

"9HE2TD." The Whirlagig Drone observed. "Orders received. Extermination ceased."

It hovered for a moment.

"9HE2TD." The Whirlagig Drone repeated. "Orders received. Pests. Exterminate."

"No! I just told you, they're _guests_! Guests, not pests!" Godchaser protested, her voice becoming very shrill.

"Drone WD456, why aren't you exterminating the pests?" It was Godchaser's voice I heard, but it was coming from near the door, not right behind my ears.

"Oh. Whoa." Sapphire observed. "There's _two _Godchasers?"

"How many constructs did you build?" Loren wondered uneasily.

"Constructs? Hundreds of thousands! But mostly Whirlagigs and other little things! There's only ever been one Godchaser! I dismantled her first prototype and used the parts for Two, but Two had problems from the beginning. I'd intended to scrap Two also but I..." I fell silent. No one wanted to hear a complete account of my experiments with Artificial Intelligence. What they wanted was an explanation for what they were seeing, which was something that I couldn't provide.

Still, my vision had cleared enough that I could see what Sapphire had seen. There were most definitely _two _Godchasers, staring in disbelief at one another.

"Identify yourself!" The first demanded. She was my Godchaser... I could see where I'd repaired patched her white "cloak" covering with a scrap of brown linen.

"You first." The other argued. Her "cloak" was pristine and made of something much finer, gossamer silk. "You're the dirty intruder!"

"I am not dirty! And you're not _me_, you're horrible!"Godchaser wailed.

"Dirty!"

"Horrible!"

"Dirty, dirty, dirty!"

"Horrible!"

"Stop it, Godchaser!" I snapped. Both constructs whirled around to face me.

"Maker!" They answered in one voice.

"Maker?" The second Godchaser seemed confused.

"There are no pests here!" I informed the Whirlagig Drone. "All drones will cease exterminating pests, is that understood?"

"Maker. Orders received. All orders from 9HE2TD overridden. Extermination ceased." The Drone replied.

"Maker?" The second Godchaser blinked at me. She sounded absolutely incredulous.

"I _told _you. _Not_ pests!" My Godchaser whispered smugly.

Amira sighed in relief and Roach whistled.

"That was a close one." Sapphire observed. "Quill?" She prompted.

"What?" He frowned, his hands on his hips. I still couldn't make out his face clearly, but I was beginning to see the garden around us. As Godchaser had professed, it was impossibly beautiful.

"What happened?" Sapphire prompted. "Why is this garden alive again?" She demanded.

"Why are all of Recluse's killer drones active?" Loren added.

"Yuck! Why am I standing in a pile of crap?" Roach complained.

"Crap?" I glanced in his direction. Sure enough, he'd put his foot down in something wet, black, and nasty, the droppings of some sort of animal that I _knew _had no business in my garden.

When it finally hit me, I couldn't hope to conceal my shock. _"_Oh gods. _Pests!_"

"Recluse?" Faeslayer wondered.

"The _last _entry in my... in Perfect's diary!" I explained. "The very last entry, it never made sense to me! She was complaining about _pests_ in her garden!"

"I don't like where this is going at all." Sapphire paused.

Amira sniffed the droppings that Roach had put his foot in and grimaced.

"Imps." She informed me.

"Well, we've already got the Fae, the Underworld, and Heaven gunning for us." Sapphire smiled slightly. "I suppose the Yozi were feeling left out."

"You'd better hope we don't run into any demons." Loren informed her. "We're still low on Essence and we don't know what has happened here. At least... I don't know."

"Nor do I." I admitted grudgingly.

"Well, all I know is that I'm not dead!" Roach supplied.

"Is that an accomplishment?" Amira raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you kidding?" Roach protested. "Quill thought the Well would kill me! See, I have plenty of soul!" He pointed at himself with both hands and winked as if he thought he was suave. I didn't bother to express my doubts. At the moment, I had more of them concerning my Circlemate than Roach.

Loren stood with his arms crossed and Amira supported him, looking equally unamused. I turned to face Quill, who seemed to be daring me to ask him something particularly clever. But for the life of me, I couldn't formulate a coherent question. It was as if I was only half in the world that I occupied, and half somewhere else.

"I'm going back to the Well." I decided.

"I'm with you." Sapphire nodded in agreement.

"Us too." Amira replied. She sounded uncertain, and I noticed immediately that she was hanging on Loren's arm. Did she know more than she was saying?

I didn't have the strength to start with the accusations. The Well was obviously the source of whatever had brought White Gold Tower to life, and so it was only natural that I should look at it first. More troubling still, where had all of our "guardians" gone?

I suspected that Rhapsody and Val would be relatively safe, particularly since they were both sorcerers of a certain degree, and Silvermane obviously knew his way around White Gold Tower. What worried me was that I didn't know Clever Devil and I did know Viper.

Emerald Viper would have been trouble enough even if she'd been stone cold sober. Put simply, Viper is not the sort of woman who takes "no" for an answer, and sometimes I think she starts fights simply because she enjoys getting hit. And hitting... but mostly getting hit.

My first night at Anathema's, I'd come to understand with clarity why my previous incarnation had believed that all Lunars were complete barbarians. More importantly, if my Whirlagig Drones were all flying about, I was not to naïve to think that the traps I'd created to specifically inconvenience my First Age husband were probably also active.

Before I could open the doors we'd come through, Quill leapt in front of me.

"Why don't we go out to the terrace?" He suggested.

"Because we're still in the middle of a Wyld zone and I really don't get much satisfaction from watching the Unshaped gnaw on nasty little Fae." I informed him, moving again for the door.

"No, let's go to the terrace!" He repeated. It sounded more like an order, and since I was finally able to see again, I was not at all inclined to obey him.

"I have something I want to show you!" He offered, suddenly changing his tune.

That enticing offer got Sapphire's attention, and Roach's as well. They seemed willing to see what Quill wanted to share. I took advantage of his moment of distraction and went back into the main laboratory of White Gold Tower. Both Godchasers hovered after me, every so often glancing at one another suspiciously.

The laboratory, like the garden, was fully restored to its former glory and the Well dominated the center of the space, pulsing with energy. A thousand experiments that I knew I hadn't started in motion were running, and above everything, a massive screen churned out seas of calculations and sorcerers diagrams too quickly for the eye to follow.

I used some of my meager Essence to call upon a Charm that would help me focus. It worked as I expected it to, but it was accompanied by a very peculiar sensation.

For lack of a better way to explain it, I suddenly felt as if I used the same Charm twice.

"Hello?" I wondered uneasily. Thinking better of myself, I switched to Old Realm. No one from Nexus proper was going to be running around in White Gold Tower, which left the possibilities of a Solar or Lunar, a Sidereal, Fae, Deathknight, possibly a God, or if the imp droppings were any indication – a demon from Malfeas.

"Maker..." Godchaser began.

I ignored her and grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on which seemed to be a weapon, a gauntlet of a familiar design. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that my Circlemates had come into the room and that Roach and Amira were staring out over the restored laboratory as if they couldn't believe their eyes.

A moment's distraction proved to be too much. I almost lost my wits as I backed into someone or something between two rows of humming machines.

Whirling around on one heel, I readied both my gauntlet and my lightning spear. A burst of lightning sent me scrambling through some sort of ill-conceived botanical experiment and I broke a lot of glass. Sensing that my attacker had moved with the speed of a martial artist, I raised my spear to protect my head. Though I knew better than to close my eyes in a fight, my vision was still blurry and I needed to be as focused as I could possibly be.

There was the distinctive clang of orichalcum against itself and I grimaced, slowly opening one eye to see who or what was trying to kill me.

A pale woman with a shock of red hair, a very pointed nose and brilliant green eyes stood over me, dressed in nothing but magical metals and white silk. She wore the same diamond-shaped hearthstone amulet that I did around her neck and the same circlet on her brow.

"Maker!" The second Godchaser exclaimed. The two constructs both flew over to us, each picking a side. They persisted in staring at one another and offered no helpful explanation at all.

Of course, I didn't have time to rationally explain to myself what had happened. Everyone had seen me attacked and Sapphire had apparently decided that if I wasn't going to run Perfect through with my lightning spear, she was going to shoot her. I didn't guess that she recognized my previous incarnation, not from such a distance and with her vision probably as fuzzy as my own.

Faeslayer immediately charged to my rescue also, but he didn't get close enough for his daiklave.

Sapphire's Essence rounds exploded the experiment nearest to us and Perfect fired another two shots from her lightning spear, one at Sapphire and the other at me. Reflex forced me to retaliate, but I had no idea where I'd dropped my spear.

I activated the gauntlet I'd stolen from one of the experiments in the laboratory, not sure what it would do... and almost lost control of my arm thanks to the ferocious recoil. A burst of brilliant golden energy shot from the palm and Perfect dodged, evading the beam with a shocked expression on her face.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "How did you get into my manse?"

"My fellow pests?" Quill's sing-song voice carried across the room. I didn't see what he was about to do, but I did hear Sapphire curse incoherently. "I suggest you _run_!"

I knew immediately that he'd been shaping sorcery and barely had time to bolt for the stairs when a whirlwind of Obsidian Butterflies swept up around him and then flowed through the laboratory with hurricane force, rending everything they touched. I was astounded.

How was it possibly that Quill still had enough Essence to work Sorcery when I had three hearthstones and was only barely standing under the weight of my own artifacts?

Not for the first time, I suspected that there was much more to him than anyone knew.

"Run, Faeslayer!" I ordered, seizing Loren by the sleeve.

"Isn't that Perfect? What is Quill doing?" Loren demanded. Obviously, he wanted to know why our Circlemate was trading blows with my previous incarnation. I had no answer for that.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Sapphire wondered.

"Are you mad?" I demanded, my hands on my hips. "As impossible as it seems, that's _me_ he's fighting in there! And she's no slouch when it comes to sorcery! Perfect is going to eviscerate him, and I can't say that I'm sorry about that! Sun-in-Glory, will that imbecile _never _learn! I swear, everyone who's met him wants to kill him if they can!"

"Guys?" Roach prompted. It was the first he'd said since Loren woke him up. "Exit?" He suggested.

"I'm all for getting out of here." Loren decided. "I still can't see."

"Same here." Amira agreed. Sapphire sighed in defeat.

We took off running, but predictably enough, we didn't get far. The moment I flung open the front doors of White Gold Tower I realized what Quill had wanted to show us.

A vast city stretched out before us, absolutely teeming with life.

Massive buildings of magical materials and rare marbles pierced the clouds. Airships, constructs, the Whispering Serpent, all things long since been buried or faded into legend glimmered like new. The sight of it all was so glorious that I almost lost my footing on the steps of White Gold Tower. The stairs led down, not into a mess of churning Wyld, but into another garden with a huge, crystalline blue reflecting pool. Impossibly beautiful people drifted across the surface of the water as they might have congregated on the dance floor at the society event of the season. I noticed that many of them wore artifacts that would have fetched a prince's ransom in our time.

_Our time._

What did that really mean?

If Loren and I had been in our Nexus, I would have said that the First Age was "our time", but staring across that city, I realized that I'd never felt more out of place in my life. I'd often imagined what it must have been like when the Deliberative still ruled but never in my wildest dreams had I realized how truly wondrous Creation had actually been.

Sapphire stared with her jaw dropped. Roach grinned like a madman, and Amira clung tight to Loren's arm, looking even more worried than before.

I would have thought that I was only caught in a vision of the past if Faeslayer hadn't steadied me with his hand.

Unlike the rest of us, who were too dumbfounded to speak, he looked perfectly serene and Alexander-like, as comfortable with the impossible world that we had fallen into as Sapphire was with the nasty underbelly of Harlotry.

"This _cannot _be real!" I gasped. "Time travel is impossible!"

"Who said anything about time travel?" Faeslayer sighed.

"I..." I pointed back in the direction of White Gold Tower. "That was me, in there!"

"And me!" Godchaser added. "Well, one of my prototypes anyway."

I said nothing and let my companion preserve her pride, though I was absolutely certain that the second Godchaser we'd run across had _not_ been one of her prototypes.

"I'm sure there's some other explanation." Amira admitted. "We knew that the Well opened into another Creation."

"But another Creation exactly like ours?" I protested. "The odds are... well, I'd sooner believe in time travel!"

Sapphire wrinkled her nose. "I'm going back in there. I'm going to beat an explanation out of Quill."

She only managed two steps back up the stairs when a tremendous explosion rocked White Gold Tower from the inside, blowing out more than half of the windows.

It was my turn not to be surprised. Distantly, I understood the spell that had been cast and was absolutely certain that it was Perfect herself, and not Quill, who'd very nearly leveled White Gold Tower.

"Was that Perfect?" Roach wondered.

I didn't dignify that stupid question with an answer. Sapphire was laughing like a hyena, and it took me a moment to see why.

One of the beautiful people waltzing on the surface of the reflecting pool was so startled that he'd abruptly broke the surface of the water and fell in.

The resulting splash scattered the other dancers, but it seemed that the sound of drums and horns on the road below would have ended the party regardless.

Loren's eyes were fixed on a white banner with a golden, radiant, sun on it... the heraldry of his previous incarnation. I didn't doubt that he felt as strangely as I had when I'd first approached Perfect, but he seemed to have the sense to stay away from Alexander Faeslayer. Nevertheless, a military parade was approaching and a jostling crowd had filled every inch of space on its route.

"Hunh." Roach observed. "Looks like it's still the first day of Calibration."

"In that case, we'd all better hope that Recluse is right and that time travel really is impossible." Faeslayer paused.

"Why?" Roach wondered.

"Because if this is the First Age, the Usurpation starts today." He finished.

White Gold Tower rumbled.

With Quill still trading blows with Perfect, everyone looked to me for answers... including Godchaser.

"So..." Loren began. "What do we do now?"

"Bar." Sapphire decided.

"_Bar_." Amira repeated emphatically.

"Oh yeah!" Roach agreed.

"You all want to go drink?" Loren demanded. He turned to me, probably suspecting that I'd be the voice of reason and back him up.

"After what's happened so far this morning?" I smiled slightly. "I think Viper had the right idea getting hammered last night!"


	12. Chapter 12 - Roach

Time for another round of reader confusion questions!

Can I write longer chapters?

No. This story is done, and some chapters (like this one) are _much _longer than others. I've just been trying to post it gradually so that no one is overwhelmed. I tend to write very lengthy stories and I've been told that sometimes people don't read them because they seem too long.

Will there be Green Sun Princes?

Not in this story, but they'll play a major role in _Heaven Sent_ which I will begin posting when I get a few more chapters finished. The narrator is a Chosen of Serenity Sidereal and you can expect many characters from _The Well of Udr _to make cameo appearances. Only Windswept Rhapsody and Clever Devil will be major players, however.

Will I write a story from the perspective of a non-Exalt?

Yes, I already did. It's called _Vanguard _and I won't reveal much more than that yet. Suffice to say, you can expect lots of Sidereals including the infamous Himitsu, who really doesn't get enough attention in _The Well of Udr_. Right now it's about 5 chapters. I'll try to format and post it eventually.

Will I write more Exalted stories?

I believe I've answered that question.

Will Roach ever tell the story?

Yes. He actually tells the rest of it.

How are Quill and the Emissary related?

You'll see.

Is the Well of Udr canon?

Sure it is. Basically, read "Sidereals", "Abyssals", and the First Age box set and you'll be able to see where I got the idea. "The Well" is mentioned in the section on The Dowager and the protoscemaic vortex is an NA artifact you'll also find in the books. If you consider what is possible using Solar Circle Sorcery or Sidereal Martial Arts, I don't think anything I've done here is particularly far-fetched. If you read what the books have to say about reality engines, Wyld Cauldron technology, The Green Lady and The Weeping Maiden, everything is quite plausible - at least by Exalted standards. Then again, a Tyrannosaurus Rex flying a military aircraft is also perfectly plausible by Exalted standards.

Where is the Weeping Maiden?

Yes, I know I mentioned her in my story description. You'll see.

CHAPTER 12 – ROACH

The First Day of Calibration

It had gotten crazy.

Now you've got to understand, when I say "crazy", what I actually mean is "_crazier than you can possibly imagine"_. Personally, I've had an eventful life. I was raised in a cult, kidnapped into the army, promoted into the middling ranks of the Realm's most notorious Wyld Hunt and then booted right into the company of heretics and outlaws when my best friend and commanding officer revealed himself to be Anathema in front of our entire legion.

All that considered, the last few months of my day-to-day had made all of my lively previous years look like a lazy vacation by comparison.

Since I've been on the run, I've been shot, stabbed, trampled by a giant cow, damn near drowned, and set on fire... not that anyone noticed. I'd also fought all three of the things that every self-respecting soldier hopes never to run afoul of – pissed-off Dragonbloods, hordes of Fae, and the undead.

But did I get any recognition for my prodigious ability to stay alive?

Of course not.

Y'see, an average guy like me climbing out of a river singed and bleeding doesn't even hold a candle to a tall, good-looking, authoritative guy with the giant frickin' orichalcum sword who glows like the sun and flies through the air.

Not that I resent always being two steps behind The Boss. A guy like him casts a really big shadow, and everyone who's not a God is actually in it somewhere.

Of course, if you happen to be a mere mortal like me, being best buddies with a Dawn Caste Solar is pretty dangerous. I've already been kidnapped by Dragonbloods once and used as bait, and I don't doubt that eventually someone will try to grab me again. Worried about my safety, The Boss had tried to convince me to head south with my Murqai cousins and maybe make a normal life for myself.

I'd toyed with the idea of finding some nice quiet village to call home, but even my desire to remain arrow-free with my head _not impaled on a pike_ wasn't strong enough to keep me from tailing after The Boss. He's just that kind of guy, you understand? All inspirational, all the time.

I had to ask myself honestly when I learned that The Boss was Exalted whether I was going to stick by him or not. It would have been easier and safer to turn him over to the Wyld Hunt, but I couldn't reconcile that. The Boss was my only real friend in the world, and unlike most Realm soldiers who were spoon-fed Immaculate Philosophy from childhood, I knew that there was an alternative to it.

I couldn't believe that The Boss was capable of giving his body over to a demon and becoming "Anathema", but if the heroic Illuminated that my mother had vowed to serve were real, I could _definitely _accept that The Boss was one of them.

See, I never had much of a childhood, and to be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about either of my parents. According to my Murqai relatives, my mother, Aaiqa Abida was a pretty famous priestess with a real gift for finding the right words in just about any situation. Against all odds, she even managed to sound poetic when she kicked me out the back door right before the Wyld Hunt came to kill her.

I've also been told that when I speak Flametongue, I kinda sound like her. It's supposed to be a complement, but it doesn't really sit well with me. See, what I do remember about my mother is that she never figured I was going to amount to much.

"_Abd Al-Abadiyah." _She would say, because that's my actual name._ "It is no use! You will never be a priest! The Unconquered Sun did not make you clever."_

That always made me mad. Maybe I wasn't brilliant, but I never figured I was made stupid either. I guess that in comparison to my mother, anyone would have felt like a dunce.

To make matters worse, I also had the misfortune of being short and clumsy, which made me crap on a horse and a lousy when it came to archery or swordplay. My mother would observe my persistent failures and sigh. _"Oh, Abadiyah! It is no use! You will never be a warrior! The Unconquered Sun did not make you strong."_

But there was one thing The Unconquered Sun did make me... and I learned what that was on the day I suddenly had no home to go back to.

_He'd made me stubborn. _

When the Ravenous Winds found me half-dead in the desert, one of the officers started calling me "Cockroach" right away. I must have repeated my actual name a dozen times, but no one ever tried to pronounce it, except for The Boss. He never could manage to get it, and eventually he started calling me "Roach" too.

Maybe I should have been offended, but somehow when he used the nickname that his superiors had given me, it didn't sound like such an insult. The Boss was genuinely impressed that I didn't give up easily, and with his infuriating, relentless patience... I started to get good at all the things I'd previously been bad at.

It felt natural to stick with The Boss, even if I was liable to get killed. He'd taught me everything that I knew, and sometimes I wondered how much I really was my own person, and how much I was just "The Cockroach" who followed Loren around.

Loren is The Boss's real name. When we were in the army together, I never really called him that, but the longer we spend on the lam, the more I get used to it. At present, the two of us are running around with The Boss's girlfriend, a kinda psycho Lunar called Amira... and three Solars that I like to think of as his "super-friends".

The first Solar that Loren joined up with is actually the infamous Veritas Ilumio, formerly a jeweler who royally pissed off House Mnemon, somehow escaped his own high-profile execution, and then managed to get himself _inside _the Abbey of Mela where he spent the next five years. He's Twilight Caste, which basically means that he's as much of genius as The Boss is a badass. Veritas is also incredibly paranoid. His chief delusion is that he's being stalked by agents of Heaven called "Sidereals" who can make themselves look like anyone, so he's suspicious of everyone he meets. That being said, he also has a bizarre pair of girlfriends. One of them is another Solar called Windswept Rhapsody, a gorgeous traveling bard who apparently shows up for a roll in the hay about once a year. The other is a machine Veritas built which acts like a person. He calls her "Godchaser". Aside from tossing out snide remarks, insulting everyone, and praising her "Maker", Godchaser's chief talent seems to be that she is capable identifying "Sidereals" wherever they're hiding. Until last night, I didn't actually believe that Sidereals were real. Now that I know that they are stalking all of us, I'm revising my opinion of Veritas somewhat.

The Boss seems to like Veritas. Loren calls him "Recluse" and he calls Loren "Faeslayer". The two of them get to bantering every so often like they go _way _back... which I know they actually don't because I was there when the two of them met.

The trouble is, even though they've only known each other for a few months in this lifetime, they've also been best buddies for about three-thousand years because a lot of Solars can remember their former lives in detail, sometimes to the point where they confuse the past and the present. Even Loren's girlfriend Amira occasionally slips up and calls him "Alexander" which was apparently the name of his former self, whom she was married to about 1,500 years ago. Their relationship is bizarre to say the least, but pretty much everything that has to do with Solars falls into the category of weird, weird shit.

The second of Loren's super-friends is Sapphire Indari, better known as "Shadowsbane", one of the most notorious figures of Nexus's extensive criminal underground. She's Night Caste, which means she's stealthy and flexible, both traits that I approve of. She's also not as serious as Loren or Veritas, which makes her fun to be around, but she has the most irritating laugh in all of Creation. More annoying still, she's a regular at Anathema's and monopolizes Emerald Viper's bed, which I'd really like to be getting into myself. The granddaughter of Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants, Sapphire can out-drink anyone... but that's not her only talent. Like Loren, she can also kill just about anything without ever putting down her beer.

Last of all is Adamant Quill, the Eclipse Caste of Loren's "Circle", which is kinda like the Solar version of a Sworn Brotherhood. In my head, I call him "Crazy Quill" because he's completely insane... and that's all any of us really know about him. Focusing on how ridiculous Crazy Quill can be makes him only marginally less terrifying.

To make a long story short, because I'd insisted on following The Boss, I was presently stuck in a place which was either our world 1,500 years in the past or a parallel Creation that mirrored our own so closely that it even included versions of ourselves.

Not that I remembered what I'd done in any of my previous lives. I kinda expected that if I met Past Roach somewhere in First Age Nexus, he'd be frying noodles or stealing horses... not ruling the whole world like Past Loren was.

While Veritas, Loren, and Crazy Quill had been hard at work setting up The Well of Udr for its activation, Sapphire had taken it upon herself to fill in my somewhat deficient education on The First Age. The Boss had tried to get me up to speed before, but whenever his buddy Veritas got involved in the discussion, the two of them wound up lapsing into Old Realm and stopped making any sense.

All I'd really gleaned from any of my disinterested, "Exalted" tutors about the past before I'd landed smack in the middle of it was that Solars had once ruled the whole world and that the Dragonbloods had risen up and killed them all in an event called The Usurpation, which was facilitated by certain Sidereals, who probably had connections in the Underworld or somewhere in the Deep Wyld. The scary thing was, really old Solars were even more powerful than Loren and his super-friends. I'd seen firsthand just how badly Veritas was outclassed when he'd run afoul of his previous incarnation, a crazy red-head woman with an unfortunate nose.

Not that actually I blamed her for attacking him. See, when we activated The Well in our Nexus, it conked all of us out. Some amount of time passed, during which Crazy Quill was probably awake and up to no good. And then we woke up in First Age Nexus inside of Perfect Mechanical Soul's laboratory, temporarily blinded and with monster headaches.

Veritas had found his previous self and unwittingly started a fight which Crazy Quill felt compelled to finish. Citing self-preservation as a valid excuse, the rest of us decided to run in the opposite direction of the out-of-control sorcery that was being lobbed back and forth.

Safely outside of "The Exploding" White Gold Tower, the super-friends argued for a few minutes about whether or not to do something about Crazy Quill and Past Veritas or "Perfect" as everyone called her. Sapphire and Amira decided that it was time for a drink, a motion which I wholeheartedly seconded.

Grudgingly, Loren agreed. We needed a plan, and we'd probably formulate a better one if we could sit down and get something to eat first.

I followed close behind The Boss. There was no really telling what we'd run into in First Age Nexus, and as I believe I've already mentioned, Loren's shadow is a pretty safe place to be.

With a big military parade in full swing on the streets below us, it wasn't easy to get away from White Gold Tower. Loren eventually decided it was safe enough to stash his daiklave in Elsewhere and Veritas followed suit with his weapons.

I couldn't figure why the super-friends didn't want to be recognized as Solars now that we were in the First Age where they would be treated like the big damn heroes they were instead of the enemies of Creation that the Realm made them out to be. I guessed that the business with Crazy Quill fighting that red-headed sorceress had something to do with it. She was apparently Perfect, who was also somehow Veritas, kinda like Loren was Alexander Faeslayer. Not that I really understood.

Like so much else, it was just one of those weird Solar things.

I couldn't help but feel as though everyone was watching the five of us as we got off the parade route and stumbled through the underbelly of the city, looking like the easiest marks on the street. Even Sapphire, who's normally confident enough to take her clothes off in public or launch a flurry of insults in the face of an Immaculate Monk was quiet and very careful. She obviously observed what I did, that we stood out even in the seediest parts of town. Our clothes were battered even by the standards of our own time, and in the First Age anyone respectable looked much nicer than we did and was carrying artifacts to boot.

What was even more irritating to me was that almost everyone was speaking in Old Realm, a language that I barely had any grasp of at all. It made me acutely aware of the fact that I was the only member of our traveling party who didn't have phenomenal celestial powers.

About halfway through Firewander District, we came to a place where three roads crossed over one another. Under the lowest bridge, which was made of solid white jade, was a squat, squarish brick building with a weird, squiggly looking sign over the front window. I stared up at the Old Realm characters, trying to guess what they said.

I barely even noticed when Veritas slipped up behind me and pinned something to the collar of my shirt. It looked like a tiny orichalcum spider.

"What is this?" I wondered, staring at the spider.

"One of my spiders." He explained. "I brought some with me when we passed through the Well."

To demonstrate, he held out his right hand. Another tiny gold spider that I had assumed was only a decoration on his sleeve immediately detached itself from the fabric and reared back on six of its eight legs, seeming to salute its maker.

I'd gotten relatively used to Godchaser swooping around and some of Veritas's other inventions, but the inconceivably delicate work that must have gone into building the tiny spider that he was so casually showing off reminded me once again that Veritas was _really _not a normal guy.

Of all The Boss's super-friends, he was the one who had the most serious god complex. He seemed to get kicks out of making machines that were virtually indistinguishable from living things... which was in my opinion, one seriously creepy hobby.

Still, I knew better than to doubt the effectiveness of Veritas's constructs, and if he was actually entrusting one of his precious "children" into my care, I figured I ought to be grateful for it.

"Wow, thanks. Um... what does it do?" I asked, still staring at the spider.

"All of my spiders share a single neural frequency." Veritas explained, using a conglomeration of words that didn't mean anything to me. "And Godchaser has a setting which allows her to monitor their activities. She can send them any information she has at her disposal... which is quite a lot, presently. Her maps are extensive and cover every corner of this city. She speaks fourteen languages and four different dialects of Old Realm. She can also identify any entity using Essence within a hundred yards, including gods who've chosen not to materialize and Sidereals who are hiding under Resplendent Destinies. I've assigned everyone a spider in case we get separated. They can't communicate with you, but they can communicate with Godchaser and she'll tell me what they see." Veritas explained.

"Oh." I observed, noticing that another spider had fixed itself to Loren's collar. One was also clinging to Amira's largest silver bracelet and a third had hidden itself discreetly in Sapphire's hair. I tried not to sound disappointed when I learned that I hadn't actually been given a unique gift.

"Of course, I specifically modified the spider that I gave you." Veritas added.

"You did? How?" I was genuinely intrigued.

"Well, since you don't have any Essence of your own, I've made it so that any of us can charge it up for you." Veritas explained. "Right now it should last a day or so on what I've just given it."

"Oh." I didn't even pretend to be pleased. Veritas may not have thought he was being rude, but I really hated it when he treated me like I was dragging everyone else down. As I saw it, it didn't matter if I could recharge his damned spider or not. I was still a trained scout, and my eyes and ears were good. Loren and his super-friends were always trying to do more than one thing at a time and they very rarely paid complete attention to what was going on around them. More than once, I'd actually been the first of our group to notice potential trouble brewing or a solution to a problem that no one else had considered.

"But that's not all." Veritas added. "Allow me to demonstrate! Ahem!" He cleared his throat and said something very quickly in Old Realm. I gingerly touched the spider on my collar, and when Veritas repeated himself, a little more slowly, I realized that I could understand him perfectly.

The spider didn't actually _translate _the words for me into any language that I knew... it somehow supplied me with the fundamental understanding of the language that Godchaser apparently possessed. Words for things I'd never seen and concepts that I didn't really understand raced through my brain.

_Deliberative. Magitech. Terraform. Submersible._

I must have been staring for a long while, because the next thing I noticed was that everyone else had stopped loitering around. They were all looking at me.

"So, does it work?" Veritas pressed.

I blinked in surprise. "You're speaking in Old Realm?"

"As are you." He looked a bit impressed with his own work.

I hadn't even realized that I'd responded in a language I shouldn't have known.

"Thanks." I didn't have to pretend to smile. "This is actually pretty awesome." I admitted. "You know, I was under the impression that you didn't like me much."

"To be honest, I originally thought you were a Sidereal." Veritas admitted.

"And now you know I'm not?" I prompted.

"Yes. It was wrong of me to make such an assumption. I should have trusted Godchaser's initial scans. She very rarely makes mistakes." He replied.

"Oh." There wasn't much else I could say. I'd kinda been hoping that Veritas had just started to trust me because I tried to be a decent guy, but apparently he'd had his construct evaluating me like one of my Murqai cousins might evaluate a horse on the auction block. Still, an apology from Veritas was something I was going to hold onto. It was a rare thing for any mere mortal to receive, kinda like a complement from Amira.

I looked up at sign of the building we'd come to, the one I hadn't been able to read before. The characters rearranged themselves in front of my eyes and I realized that we were standing on the steps of a restaurant and boarding house called "_The Caterpillar._"

It looked like a real dive, which was exactly the kind of place we'd been hoping to find. It was late afternoon and half of the restaurants on the street were filled to capacity, but for some reason, no one had set foot inside of _The Caterpillar_.

All of the tables were empty except for a round one in the back corner near the bar, which was occupied by a familiar-looking guy with pale skin and stringy black hair. He was dressed in ink-spattered, unwashed old clothes that reminded me Sijanese funerary robes.

Amira literally squeaked and seized Loren's arm. "Luna's tits, it's Dead Eddie!" She exclaimed, naming the famous undead playwright who haunted Nexus's theater district and frequented Anathema's. Amira bounced up and down like a child. "Well, I suppose we should probably call him "Not-Yet-Dead Eddie." She admitted. "But it's him! It's definitely him!"

"What is he doing?" Loren wondered.

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie was furiously scribbling something on a mass of cheap paper. Every so often he'd pause, consider what he'd written, crinkle up one sheet and start on another.

"Writing something he should be publicly flogged for." Sapphire replied. "It's what Val always says." She admitted.

"I'm going to distract him!" Amira decided. "And when I do, you grab his manuscript!" She ordered me. I nodded obediently but I honestly had no intention of doing what she wanted me to.

"Amira, I'm not sure that's a good idea!" The Boss protested.

She ignored him and gleefully bounded over to Not-Yet-Dead Eddie's table.

"What are you writing?" She asked, in the most unbelievably annoying sing-song voice.

"A play." He replied. "Leave me alone!"

"What?" A voice shouted upstairs. "No, I would have known already! I wouldn't be living like this! They would have identified me, you understand? The Viziers can predict it. I've seen what they do. They... they scoop up children when they're young. They say we all get the same education in school, but we don't. It's a conspiracy, a conspiracy designed to keep us down!"

Sapphire raised an eyebrow, glancing in my direction. I turned to The Boss, who only shrugged.

"Damnit, what do you want?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie demanded. Amira was still hanging over his shoulder. She folded her hands behind her back and mustered her very best innocent look which was not at all convincing.

"We're hungry and thirsty!" Amira informed him. "You should serve us!"

"Nothing here is remotely edible." Not-Yet-Dead Eddie replied. "And the beer will give you consumption."

"Okay, I'll pass!" Sapphire grimaced.

"You're serious?" The voice upstairs sounded considerably subdued. "But... I've just written this treatise and the printer has it now and if I'd known..."

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie rolled his eyes. "Now if you will kindly piss off, I have work to do!"

"The food here is no worse than it is across the street." Veritas interrupted. Judging by his tone, I suspected that he'd used a Charm. "And I suggest that you serve us if you don't want us to tell your employer that you've been purposely chasing his customers away."

"I knew you were really a waiter." Amira observed with a wicked grin.

Sighing in defeat, Not-Yet-Dead Eddie, got up, went into the kitchen, and was gone for about ten minutes. He came back with something color of cat vomit that smelled like boiled shoes. Loren stared at the muck that had been set before him and Veritas actually gagged. Hungry as I was, I decided to try it. It proved to be edible, but less appetizing than anything I'd ever eaten before.

"No! No! That's final! I'm not hearing another word!" That was when the really loud argument we'd been overhearing snippets of began to work its way downstairs.

The one who's been doing all of the shouting was a young man with nose that looked like it had been broken one too many times. His hair was cropped short and there were dark circles under his eyes that made it look like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. He was dressed in an old hapi coat that I would have been tempted to call "Realm fashion" if we weren't currently 1,500 years in the past, a patched breeches and simple rope sandals. I guessed right away that he was the owner of The Caterpillar, because he was carrying an inventory list and a crate of glass mugs that didn't look very clean.

The person he was arguing with turned out to be Adamant Quill.

Both of them looked surprised to see all of us sitting at the bar with mugs of sour beer and bowls of whatever Not-Yet-Dead Eddie had scraped off the kitchen floor in front of us.

"All I'm saying is that if you cleaned this place up, you'd be sure to turn a profit!" Crazy Quill argued. "Come now, you can't be content like this!" From the way the innkeeper reacted, I gathered that Crazy Quill had just changed the subject of their conversation completely.

"It's my damned business. I don't care how you claim we're related. I said I was interested in your coin, not your opinion!" The innkeeper informed Crazy Quill.

"Quill!" Sapphire exclaimed.

To my surprise, the innkeeper was the one who turned around first. "Do I know you?" He demanded.

"You're Quill?" I stared at him, and then at Crazy Quill. When I pictured what Crazy Quill might have looked like with a bad haircut and a busted nose, I realized that the man he was arguing with could only be the relative he bragged about, the very first Adamant Quill who'd set up shop in Nexus when the Solars still ruled.

"Yes, Adamant Quill, not that the name suits." The innkeeper admitted. "My parents hoped I would be a scholar, but mostly I just write public interest columns for The Firewander Daily. I also own The Caterpillar."

Godchaser cackled, and Veritas started laughing awkwardly himself in an attempt to conceal his construct's breech of etiquette. Godchaser knew that we were trying to hide and she was supposed to keep her mouth shut.

"So this is your esteemed relative, Quill The First?" Loren smirked.

"Relative?" Quill The First frowned. Apparently, he'd heard no such thing.

"Who did you tell him you were?" Sapphire demanded, her hands on her hips.

"A distant relative." Crazy Quill lied.

"Very distant." Quill the First added. He was lying too.

"Why don't you go get us a decent bottle of wine, my most beloved very distant relative?" Crazy Quill suggested, putting his arm around Quill the First in a manner that made the latter look very uncomfortable. When Crazy Quill released him, Quill the First grabbed "Not-Yet-Dead" Eddie and shoved him into the kitchen.

It looked to me like the would-be playwright was going to be looking for a new job.

Crazy Quill sighed heavily, observing the black looks that everyone seemed to be casting in his general direction. Veritas stood with his arms crossed and The Bosscouldn't have looked any more deathly serious if he'd been standing at attention with his daiklave.

"Yes, my illustrious ancestor is not very illustrious, I fear." Crazy Quill rolled his eyes. "Maybe my past incarnation will be more interesting?" He suggested, looking at Veritas. "Yours was certainly fiery."

He coughed slightly, and when I stepped up to stand next to Loren, I caught a good whiff of what smelled like sulphur.

"Why did you go toe-to-toe with her like that?" Veritas demanded.

"To buy you all time, to escape, imbecile! If we're going to defuse whatever is happening here, we need the element of surprise on our side! No one can know who we are!" Crazy Quill informed him.

We'd all agreed that it was best to lie low, but none of us liked admitting that Quill was right.

"I was actually just thinking the opposite." Loren began. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just trying to knock Crazy Quill off of his usual pedestal. "I think we should speak to Alexander. He may know something that could help us."

"I agree." Veritas nodded.

"I don't know. As much as I still want to punch him, I have to agree with Quill on this one." Sapphire admitted. "Our past incarnations could maybe make this easier, but they could also make this a whole lot more difficult."

"Heartsblood?" Veritas prompted. Sometimes he called Amira by the name she was most famous for, the one she used as second-in-command of The Sun-King Seneshals. "Amira" was rarely serious, but "Heartsblood" was a Lunar to be reckoned with. Whenever she heard her "War Name" spoken, Amira had a tendency to stop joking around and start paying attention.

"Well, I..." Amira began.

"Let me guess? You agree with Faeslayer?" Quill sighed.

Amira always agreed with Loren, which was part of the reason that The Boss's Circlemates didn't like her voting on "Three Circles Society" business. Still, Amira had lived through the last years of the Deliberative and the Usurpation, so it wasn't very fair or intelligent to disregard her opinion on what the rest of us should do next.

"Actually, no." She admitted.

Loren looked surprised.

"This was a bad time for all of us." Amira paused. "Considering what's happened already, I think we should steer clear of Perfect and Alexander. And any other Solars." She sighed heavily and turned to Loren with her hands on her hips. "I thought we were already agreed on that?"

"We did, before it became Quill's idea." Veritas admitted grudgingly.

The conversation ceased as Quill The First and Not-Yet-Dead Eddie emerged from the kitchen. I noticed that neither of them were bringing Crazy Quill the bottle of wine he'd requested. They both looked very uncomfortable.

I tested another spoonful of the mush we'd been served and grimaced. "You got anything else to eat around here?" I wondered hopefully.

"Other than protein rations?" Quill The First scoffed. "Where do you think you are, Meru?"

"I'd be fine with rice." I admitted. "Actually, rice would be awesome. Just a bowl of rice with an egg cracked on top?" I suggested.

"Ooh!" Sapphire exclaimed. "That's _exactly_ what I want!"

Quill The First gave us that same look again.

"You don't even have any rice? But there's rice all around this city!" I protested. "We've seen it!"

"It's not that there isn't food in Nexus. It's that none of it _stays_ here! We're the breadbasket of the Deliberative and everyone below Jade Row is living on surplus military supplies from twenty-four years ago! Word has it that there's going to be a revolution soon." Quill the First whispered.

"A revolution?" Veritas gaped at Quill The First. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm quite serious. You must not be from around here." Quill The First observed.

"You can't fight the Deliberative! You'll be destroyed! Completely!" Veritas replied.

Of course, all of us knew damn well that the "revolution" Quill was talking about _had _actually succeeded, but since we were trying to play the part of ordinary folks from the past, it made sense for us to react as if it was crazy talk.

That wasn't hard for me. Being a mere mortal myself, I had serious respect for how scary all of my super-friends could be. I even worried about The Boss sometimes. I gave Quill The First a really good look, like I thought he was a head case... which I kinda did.

"Not _completely._ Oh, there _will _be casualties, but the Dragonbloods outnumber the Solars by tens of thousands and they're at the head of this. And others are saying that certain Viziers are as fed up with the Order of Heaven as the rest of us are! Creation shouldn't be ruled by God-kings. It should be ruled by the people who actually have to live in it!" Quill The First slammed his open hand down really hard on his bar.

"He's got a point." I told Loren, who raised his eyebrow at me. Though Amira always made fun of him for not being a very good actor, I thought he was doing a better job than Sapphire or Veritas. They both stared at Quill The First, not like he was a looney, but like they were insulted. Both of them take the whole "Rightful Lords of Creation" thing pretty seriously.

Crazy Quill scowled at his ancestor. I smiled slightly. Though I didn't doubt that Crazy Quill would clock me upside the head if I said anything to him, I was beginning to see a very strong resemblance between the two of them.

"And you think that once the Deliberative is overthrown, the Dragonbloods are going to be better rulers?" Loren asked.

Quill the First snorted. "No, they'll also have to be overthrown! They're a necessary means to an end, you understand? The Dragonbloods can fight the Solars, but they're oppressors too, and for the revolution to continue, the people will have to rise up and take the power from them!"

"By people, you mean us? Mortals?" I prompted.

"Well, obviously! Exalts treat us like slaves, but we outnumber them by the millions! Why should one percent of the population control ninety-nine percent of the wealth and _all of the power_?" Quill the First gave me a look that made me think of how my mother used to tell me "_The Unconquered Sun did not make you clever."_

"But if there are no Exalts, who will protect Creation?" Loren asked.

"He's got a point." I agreed.

"No, that's what _they want you to think_, don't you understand? It's all a conspiracy!" Past Quill looked right at Crazy Quill. "These enemies that we supposively need protection from, the Solars are the_ reason _they exist! Creation wouldn't be in danger all the time if our golden overlords weren't as corrupt and insane as they are! After all they've done, I only wish there was some way to kill them permanently! They deserve it!"

"If you say so." I shrugged.

Quill The First looked annoyed. Though he had no reason to suspect that he was currently talking to four Solars and a Lunar, I think he figured out that none of us really agreed with him.

We all sat in silence for a long while, poking at our inedible "food". Quill The First excused himself and went to check with his "printer", Not-Yet-Dead Eddie shambled upstairs to work on his play and the rest of us turned out our pockets to see what we had that could pass for currency... despite the fact that we hadn't actually eaten, much less enjoyed our meal. The last thing we needed to do was get ourselves arrested for something as petty as a dine and dash.

What we came up with collectively was about eleven coins, not one that looked even vaguely First Age and not enough to pay for any sort of meal for five people, even at the sleaziest establishment in the city of Nexus, which The Caterpillar obviously was.

"If we're going to be stuck here for the next couple days, we should probably get some money." The Boss decided. "I know I saw a terminal outside."

The word _terminal_ was one of the ones that I'd gotten from Veritas's spider. Images of boxes that showed pictures or information stuck in my brain and I knew I'd seen Veritas working with a similar device, but what such a box had to do with money was totally lost on me.

Without explaining what he was doing, Loren approached some kind of machine in front of a shop and put his hand on it. His "target" flashed briefly and the machine deposited a number of glittering gold coins in his hand.

See, when Solars or Lunars spend Essence, they have marks between their eyes that start to glow. The marks show the symbol of their Caste. Emerald Viper had explained to me once that her Caste Mark was where Luna had kissed her "the first time" and then asked me if I wanted to see where else she'd been kissed by her patron Goddess. That had turned out to be a good night for me.

The Boss had made every effort to hide his Caste Mark for years, acutely aware that anyone who saw it would call him "Anathema" on the spot. He still looks nervous sometimes when he knows it's burning. His Circlemates react very differently. Quill grins like he's just played the best trick ever, while Sapphire and Veritas get this sort of serene expression when they know that their marks are visible. It's kinda like that scene in _The Forty-Seven Ronin _when Sing Nai takes off his mask, reveals his identity, and tells Whispering Blossom that he's been sent to rescue her.

Both Sapphire and Veritas seem to think they're big damn heroes and to be honest, if Sing Nai wasn't a fictional character, either one of them would make him look like a gutless coward.

Basically, all Solars look like they've got targets painted on their heads. Of course, anyone dumb enough to try to pop a Solar right on the Caste Mark had better be a damn good shot or a really fast runner.

"Hard motes." The Boss explained, handing me a few coins. They felt warm to the touch and much lighter than they should have, given their size. "Essence is money." He explained.

"Hm. I suppose that means we're extremely wealthy." Veritas observed the machine. He put his hand on the console and smiled slightly as a dozen more coins fell from the machine. "Let's go eat somewhere tolerable?" He suggested, holding up a single glittering mote. "I'll buy!"

That was when Sapphire realized that withdrawing Essence from the machine was getting us attention... the wrong kind. A gaggle of angry-looking locals were gathered across the street, muttering something I couldn't make out and pointing in our direction. Among them was a woman I swore I'd seen before. Her hair was the color of corn silk and hung all the way down her back. She was dressed in almost nothing and had the most piercing green eyes I'd ever seen.

Sapphire cursed, seizing hold of Loren's arm. She furiously pointed in the direction of the woman and I gathered from the expression on The Boss's face that he'd caught sight of the her before she had vanished.

"Was that the Green Lady?" I hissed. I'd heard the name thrown around a lot and it seemed like a good guess.

"There's definitely a Sidereal here_!_" Godchaser quipped. "A Chosen of Secrets!"

"It must be her!" Amira replied. She'd looked nervous since we first passed through the Well, clinging to Loren more ferociously than usual, but hearing that there was a Sidereal somewhere close by had caused her to step in front of him and extend her "stupid stick" bracelet into its staff form.

Even when faced with one clearly magical weapon, the people that the Green Lady had been whispering to were undeterred. They circled around us, but rather than calling his daiklave out of Elsewhere, The Boss only rolled up his sleeves. There were twelve of them and only six of us, but they didn't know they were picking a fight with a bunch of Solars, so we had the upper hand.

At least I thought so, until I noticed that the streets were clearing out very rapidly, and that a whole lot of Dragonbloods in heavy armor were marching in our direction.

I went for my sword, but didn't actually draw it. Whoever was coming to break up the fight had arrived before any blows could actually be exchanged.

"Is there a problem?" A voice demanded. Sapphire, who was usually pretty good about thinking on her feet, was standing in the middle of the street with a blank look on her face. A man had come up behind her. He was a tall Westerner with a distinctive nose and perfect teeth who could have passed for one of Viper's relatives, except that his eyes were the same blue color as Sapphire's. The Night Caste mark on his brow was flickering slightly, making it very obvious that he was a Solar. His large retinue of armored Dragonbloods surrounded us.

"These men are thieves! I don't know how they did it, but they were stealing Solar Motes from that machine!" Someone in the crowd protested. The Boss looked insulted by the accusation and Veritas frowned. Though they'd both agreed that it was best to lie low, they were acting an awful lot like Solars right then.

"We were _not _stealing! We were simply withdrawing funds!" Veritas replied stiffly. The man who'd drawn attention to us scowled at him.

"All right, show me what you've got!" The Night Caste ordered.

Grudgingly, both Loren and Veritas revealed the coins they'd withdrawn from the terminal. I didn't volunteer the hard motes that were currently in my own pocket, and the Night Caste didn't ask to see them.

The Solar turned to the man who'd accused Loren and Veritas of theft and smiled slightly. "Why thank you, citizen. It looks like we do have a couple of thieves in our midst! I think you had better come uptown with me." The Night Caste decided, motioning for his Dragonbloods to come forward. Two of them went for each of us. As much as I wanted to take a swing at someone, I decided that it would probably be smarter if I just bought Loren and Veritas a little time by making myself difficult to tie up. I twisted my right arm into an awkward position that one of my Murqai cousins had shown me, slipped my ropes and smiled slightly as I saw Sapphire use the same trick.

One of the Dragonbloods successfully closed a pair of iron manacles around Crazy Quill's wrists. He slipped free of them as easily as Sapphire and I had escaped our ropes and then put them on the Dragonblood who'd originally cuffed him, whirling the man around several times and then tripping him face-first through the front door of The Caterpillar.

Quill The First had been about to dump some wash water out the front door and he swore as the cuffed Dragonblood almost laid him out flat on his back. The expression on the Night Caste's face immediately soured as he realized he was being played for a fool, and for a minute I suspected that we might have another "Exploding Tower" situation on our hands. Fortunately, Sapphire decided that she'd had enough of Crazy Quill's antics. She stepped in front of the Night Solar.

"Peacekeeper Shadowsbane, this is not what it looks like!" She protested, making a valiant effort to defuse the situation. Very deliberatively, she put her own hand on the Essence-to-money machine and tore off her shroud cloth. Her Caste Mark was flickering like The Night Caste's was, only faintly. Two motes fell into the tray, as gold as orichalcum. "Now do you see?" She demanded.

The Night Caste stared at Sapphire in disbelief, as if he sensed that there was some connection between the two of them. Belatedly, I noticed that he was wearing a familiar pair of firewands holstered on his hips and carrying a long knife identical to the one Sapphire always tucked into her boot. It didn't take a genius to realize that our "Shadowsbane" had apparently met her predecessor. I supposed that it was easier for a Solar to recognize one of their past incarnations than it was to anticipate a future one.

An incredulous murmur raced through the gathering crowd. "You're Solars? Are you insane? Why are you even down here?" Shadowsbane demanded.

"Um, taking in the local color?" I suggested.

Shadowsbane laughed. He sounded _almost _as annoying as Sapphire always did, but his voice was deeper so it wasn't quite as outrageously grating. "Looking for trouble is more like it!" He informed us. "You must be _very_ new. How did you wind up so far away from The Whispering Serpent?"

When none of us responded, he sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "All right, I won't ask! But I will show you the five of you somewhere you can stay!"

"Five?" Veritas wondered. He looked for Crazy Quill.

I looked for him myself. I was sure he'd been standing only a few feet away from me moments ago, but he was gone.

"Five it is." Veritas smiled. "Thank you, sir."

"It's my pleasure." Shadowsbane replied. "Although... what were you doing at The Caterpillar? That place is a..."

"Sewer?" I suggested.

"No, this is Nexus, my good man!" Shadowsbane laughed. "Our sewers are _much _cleaner!"

"You don't have any problems with flying hagfish?" Sapphire asked.

"Flying hagfish?" Shadowsbane echoed incredulously. "If you want to see one of those, you'll have to take a weekend cruise out into the Deep Wyld! Are you interested? Because I know a good company and I can set you up?"

"I'm not interested." Sapphire smiled sweetly. "I'm_ really _not interested."

"All right. But do let me know if you change your mind!" He replied.

I skipped right along after Loren and Amira. If Shadowsbane thought I belonged with The Boss and his friends, I wasn't going to correct him. I may have stuck my nose up just a little, pretending to be a Solar myself.

Shadowsbane led us out onto a golden walkway that seemed to be suspended in midair and as we crossed it, we got the best view of First Age Nexus that any of us could have wished for. The sun was just beginning to set and I stared out in disbelief at the huge dam in the middle of the river. The water that was gray in our time a clear, summery blue... and the fields that barely grew anything were as green as I'd ever imagined a rice paddy could be.

Why would anyone want to destroy such a world? It was paradise!

I'd hardly seen anything and already I felt offended, somehow. It seemed absurd that anyone would ever think that they could do better than perfection!

The "place to stay" that Shadowsbane led us to turned out to be a massive, blue glass building more than twenty stories high. Like the "terminals" that I'd begun noticing everywhere, the entire face of the structure was filled with shifting images. Some were advertisements for things that could be bought, presumably only by very wealthy Solars. Floating islands, lavish private yachts, exotic entertainment... that kind of stuff. Every so often, the pictures melted into glyphs that read "_The Monolith Hotel and Casino_".

The first thing that happened after we arrived at _The Monolith _was that everyone got a bath and new clothes, custom-tailored as we waited. The constructs who were did all the sewing finished The Boss first, and when he stepped out to see how the rest of us were faring, it was impossible not to stare at him. He must have insisted that the constructs kept his attire simple with a minimal amount of flash and embroidery, but dressed in a very sharp blue shirt with slight gold accents, he still looked undeniably Solar-like.

The constructs dressed me like they did Loren, except that I insisted on a dark brown jacket with a high collar. If we did have to hide or run for our lives, I wanted to be wearing something that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. For a long time after the constructs had finished cutting my hair and shaving my face, I just stood and stared at my own reflection. Normally, I wouldn't have liked the idea of having half of my skin scrubbed off by machines, but there was something weirdly cathartic about the whole process. I didn't even recognize myself when they finished. As I stepped out of the dressing room and sat down next to Loren, Sapphire gave me a look that she'd never given me before.

_She thought I looked good! _

I adjusted the orichalcum spider which was now pinned to the collar of my new coat and smiled slightly. For at least a month, I'd had this reoccurring dream about fighting a firewand duel with Sapphire over Emerald Viper. But if Sapphire and I started getting along... maybe I wouldn't have to trade shots with her after all? That was a good thing, I suspected. If Sapphire and I ever really came to blows, I knew I wouldn't last five minutes. Among many other things, Sapphire is a practitioner of Righteous Devil Style, which is basically dueling while invoking the will of Heaven.

Veritas was up next. Godchaser made all kinds of weird, excited little squeaking noises when the other constructs provided her with a new covering. She and Veritas seemed to have the same favorite color - white. Since his original plan to lie low had been utterly squashed, Veritas had retrieved all of his artifacts stashed in Elsewhere with the exception of his lightning spear. Wearing the gauntlet he'd stolen from Perfect earlier along with a glove cleverly made to match it, his hearthstone circlet, a glowing amulet around his neck and Godchaser, I might have mistaken him for The Emissary of Nexus. He looked really, really impressive.

Sapphire's attire was mostly the same as Loren's, except that she'd obviously requested a basic black palette. It made her artifact weapons stand out even more dramatically. Like Veritas, she'd obviously decided that the best place for her hearthstone circlet was on her head.

Amira came out of the tailor's wearing even less than she'd had on when she walked in. The Boss stared at her like a kid who'd never seen a naked woman before, not that I blamed him. The dark blue "evening gown" that she'd selected for herself would have made an ordinary whore blush. For a moment I wondered if she'd considered that we might be running for our lives and fighting in the near future, but then I scoffed at myself.

If things did get crazy like I thought they might, Amira wouldn't be needing any clothing at all.

After we were all dressed in what Shadowsbane deemed appropriate Solar fashion, he took us up several flights of moving stairs so that we could get something to eat.

The Blue Lagoon Restaurant and Nightclub was located on the very roof of The Monolith Hotel. It was constructed entirely of living coral and blocks of what looked like flowing water frozen in time. Whatever was cooking inside smelled a lot better than Quill The First's kitchen slop and my stomach grumbled loud enough that it caught Amira's attention. She gave me a look that I didn't really understand, like maybe she felt sorry for me.

The doors opened automatically as Shadowsbane approached them. A very attractive Southern woman with a faint haze of green scales running down her back lounged just inside. She had a mane of black curls and was dressed in a watery blue silk that made all of her generous assets look very enticing. A little device that she ran her fingers over seemed to be a guest list of some kind, but I wasn't worried that she'd tell us all to get lost. She smiled at Shadowsbane and he dramatically kissed her.

"Friends, allow me to introduce Verdant Coral, the proprietress of this fine establishment!" He announced. "I picked up these newcomers wandering around The Firewander District."

"Oh, Luna's great big tits! Were you trying to get killed?" Verdant Coral demanded, her hands on her hips. When her gaze came to rest on me, she wrinkled her nose and flicked her snake tongue. I was reminded immediately of Viper. It wasn't just Coral's tone of voice and how she stood. The two of them had the exact same Tell. It was very strange to see a Lunar with no visible tattoos at all, but then I remembered Viper explaining that moonsilver tattoos had becoming increasingly necessary for Lunars because as Creation became progressively more and more unstable... so did they.

"We've heard rumors." Loren said. "We wanted to see if they were true."

I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he'd overheard something earlier, before Veritas had given me my translator spider.

"They're not exaggerated in the slightest. Certain parts of this city have become very dangerous recently. You'd do well to stay only on the Gold or Silver Roads." Coral advised. "No riffraff up here."

She assured him, definitely glancing in my direction as she spoke.

That confused me. Since we'd arrived in First Age Nexus, I'd kept my hands to myself and my head down. Loren and Veritas were responsible for the mess in the Firewander District and Crazy Quill was the one who'd tried to blow up White Gold Tower. I wasn't "riffraff!"

"We'll keep that in mind." Veritas agreed.

Amira took Loren's hand and the two waltzed into The Blue Lagoon as if they were regular guests, which I suspected they had been back in the First Age. Through the open door, I saw that the entire ceiling was a magically suspended ocean, illuminated by free-floating bubbles of light and filled with brilliantly colored fish. Though there were a lot of things to marvel at in the world we'd come to, some of them were awe-inspiring by any standards. Veritas stared up for so long that Sapphire literally knocked him over trying to push her way inside. I moved to follow her, but a huge, fishlike construct melted out of the wall and stopped me.

"No entry." It croaked.

"Seriously?" I demanded.

"We don't permit servants inside." Coral informed me. "You'll have to wait out back."

"I'm not waiting out back!" I protested.

Loren hadn't gone far past the coat check. He glanced over his shoulder. "Roach isn't my servant." He informed Coral, but she didn't seem convinced.

"Fine, no pets!" She replied.

"I'm not a pet either!" I protested.

"Cheeky, isn't he?" Coral observed, an expression on her face that was clearly meant to be condescending. "Look, I would make an exception for you newcomers, since you've obviously never been anywhere that has actual _standards_... but rules are rules and we do have a reputation to uphold." She paused, and then clarified. "This _is_ The Blue Lagoon! Celestial Exalts _only_."

Though I knew better than to test the patience of any Lunar, I fumed as Shadowsbane ushered everyone else inside, laughing, like me being humiliated was no big deal at all. In the end, even Loren left me sitting out on the steps. He could have argued more on my behalf, but he just went on inside like he wasn't even leaving anyone behind.

As the sun went down and the moon rose, I watched the sky. During Calibration, the Gods and all of the other functionaries of the Heavens rearrange the stars in the sky. Familiar patterns shift and change, some stars putter out and others are born in brilliant white explosions. The best fireworks show in Creation can't hope to compare with the majesty of a Calibration night. One minute, the sky is awash with crimson as far as you can see, then it's all blue or gold, and then black again and scattered with a thousand dancing points of light.

With all of the smog from the Nighthammer foundries in our world, I didn't doubt that I would have missed most of the spectacular show from the front porch of Anathema's.

But I wouldn't have been there alone. Though I hated to admit it, I was beginning to understand why the Dragonbloods felt compelled to revolt. Sure, the Solars were powerful, but that didn't give them the right to treat the rest of us like inferior animals!

Of course, I also got the distinct impression that I hadn't actually seen anything really bad – _yet._

_What's wrong with your Illuminated?_ I asked the Unconquered Sun, not that I figured he heard me. Talking to the God helped me to ground myself. Even if The Boss and his super-friends were treating me like crap, staying mad at them wasn't going to help the situation. I had to admit that maybe what my mother had always told me was true. The Unconquered Sun hadn't made me special, but that wasn't anything to be ashamed of. There were benefits to being special, obviously, but there were also drawbacks. I had to imagine that it was sometimes hard for Solars to actually understand normal people. I also suspected that it was pretty difficult not to act arrogant when you knew that you were Chosen by a God.

A violent explosion rocked White Gold Tower several miles away. Since Crazy Quill was currently unaccounted for, I wondered if he'd gone back to The Well and riled up Perfect again. What seemed more likely to me was the possibility that Perfect actually treated all of her "guests" like "pests" and had her Whirlagig Drones exterminate anyone who interrupted her work. Quill The First's words came back to me, so full of venom.

_They deserve it._

Did they?

Was all the perfection that I thought I saw in the Solar's world really just a death mask, concealing a pestilence too horrible to imagine?

_This can't be what you want. There's something wrong, isn't there? _I asked the God.

No answer. Then again, there never was one.

"Deep in thought?" A familiar voice whispered, uncomfortably close to my ear.

I jumped to my feet and drew my sword all the way clear of its sheath as I realized who had snuck up on me. The Shoat of the Mire smirked.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cut you to pieces." The Deathknight informed me. "I'm here to answer a question for you... that is, if you have the courage to ask it."

I blinked in surprise. My Murqai cousins always said that The Unconquered Sun worked in mysterious ways. I decided to trust him, though I couldn't guess why he'd use The Shoat of The Mire to deliver a message to me.

"There's something wrong with the Solars, isn't there? They're not just arrogant and corrupt, they're..." I felt silent.

"Mad. Yes. All of them. Even your beloved Boss." She informed me. "Completely mad. Cursed, you see. Their greatest strength becomes their greatest weakness. Those with conviction falter. The restrained overindulge. The valorous become cowardly. The compassionate, _cruel_." She finished.

"Loren's not like that!" I protested, maybe just to convince myself that it was true.

"Yes, he is. He's already begun to break, just like all of the others." The Shoat informed me. "But you knew that, didn't you? He told you that he was afraid. You told him that he didn't have any reason to be." She whispered. "_You lied_."

I had lied to Loren. And the Shoat was right, I was worried about him. More than once in the past ten years, I'd seen him start to fall apart. Of course, I hadn't known all along that he was a Solar, but there were two distinct versions of The Boss, the protector of Creation who fearlessly charged armies of Fae... and the unforgivable coward who'd stood by and did nothing when his Dragonblooded cousin beat a man to death.

"Mother knows." The Shoat continued. "Mother knows everything and she would answer all of your questions. But she would ask you to do something for her in return."

"Forget it!" I sheathed my sword. "I'm not making deals with a Deathlord!"

"Oh, you say that _now_, but you don't understand yet! Mother's plans are very intricate! You would find them most impressive if you could see how they anticipate _everything. _Mother has been looking into The Well for a very long time. She already knows what is going to happen next." The Shoat informed me. There was something very ominous in how she stood without making any swift motions in my direction. I still expected that she would try to kill me as she had before, but I was beginning to realize that maybe her motives weren't quite so simple.

"And your Mother wants to make a deal with me?" The words tasted funny as I spoke them.

"No. Not yet." The Shoat repeated. "But Mother is always watching, and when the time is right, she will speak to you. Right now, she only asks that you consider what you think you know. Nothing is as it seems. You cannot trust anyone, _Abd Al-Abadiyah_. Not even those you think are your friends."

"How do you know my name?" I demanded. _Nobody _had called me by my name in decades, and just hearing it spoken made my blood freeze in my veins. Just how much did The Shoat's "Mother" really see? I was certain that I didn't want to know.

I took a long look at the Calibration sky. It was a saffron color, which was said to reflect The Maiden of Journeys, but anything yellow or golden also made me think of The Unconquered Sun. If he had sent The Shoat, what did he want?

_You'd better explain all of this_. I informed him. _Because right now you've got me scared._

That was when The Boss came staggering out of The Blue Lagoon. I felt bad about being angry with him, particularly since he'd smuggled me a plate of food and something to drink that smelled like it belonged on a higher plane of existence.

"Who are you talking to, Roach?" He wondered.

"Uh. Nobody, I guess." I admitted.

The Shoat of the Mire had disappeared.

Roach

The Second Day of Calibration

After last call at The Blue Lagoon, we headed back to _The Monolith_. The accommodations that Shadowsbane had recommended for us turned out to be absurdly palatial, the kind of thing that would have cost a small fortune in our own version of Nexus. Of course, since Essence was money, the five of us were basically running around with enough coin to buy our own small country.

Which was totally a Solar thing to do, I found out. More than one of the servants at The Monolith had asked me which city The Boss ruled.

For however long we were stuck inside the Well, it was obvious that all of us would be living like kings. I figured that Crazy Quill was probably doing the same thing wherever it was that he'd spirited himself off to.

Though I really disliked being treated as a servant or a pet, being part of Loren's retinue wasn't all bad. I was still miffed about not being able to get into The Blue Lagoon with everyone else, but I couldn't deny that the place we were crashing would have made Three Pearls' establishment look like The Drunk Duck Inn.

Sapphire decided not to stay the night with the rest of us. Once she'd washed her face and changed her clothes again, she and Shadowsbane slipped off to a club called "The Wolves' Den" which I gathered was some kind of hangout for local Night Castes. Sapphire seemed to be hitting it off really well with her previous incarnation, which was definitely creepy and made me think all kinds of things that I would have preferred not to be thinking. Still, both The Boss and Veritas agreed that we needed to make the most of our short time inside The Well, which meant that splitting up and collecting information independently was probably inevitable.

Dead tired, I made sure Loren fed some Essence into my translator spider and then hit the sack.

It was maybe two or three in the morning when Crazy Quill climbed in my window. Usually, he dressed in a fairly "Solar" manner himself, favoring purples, blues, and golds, but for some reason he was wearing a nondescript tunic, a pair of patched pants and some rope sandals that I suspected he'd stolen from his not-so-illustrious ancestor.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

He motioned for me not to say anything, checked to see if he'd been followed and then closed the window he'd entered through, drawing the curtains.

"I found Sapphire at The Wolves' Den. Where is Faeslayer?" Crazy Quill pressed, not bothering to explain his attire or his entrance.

"Him and Amira are sleeping in the big room." I pointed to the set of double doors that connected my own quarters to my "masters'". Veritas is across the hall."

"No, Veritas and Godchaser are actually on the roof." Crazy Quill corrected me. "Have you got everything you need?" He asked.

I immediately went for my sword and the couple other essentials I'd been carrying. "I do now."

Really, I wasn't surprised that Quill had brought trouble. All things considered, I was beginning to think that a good night's sleep was something more or less mythical.

"Climb out the window." Crazy Quill ordered.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Don't ask stupid questions. You're about to be murdered." He informed me.

"Murdered!" I gasped.

"Sidereals." Crazy Quill explained. "Godchaser detected them when they entered this building from the fourth floor. They're obviously not paying guests, which means they're here for some other reason. To kill all of us." He informed me, opening the door to The Boss's room.

Amira woke up first and blinked at Crazy Quill groggily. "Quill?" She wondered. "What are you..."

"No time to explain!" Crazy Quill interrupted. "You've got to get out of here!"

That was when a huge metal fan literally sheared my door in half. I almost jumped clear out the window as a man dressed in the black robes of a Realm official, _clothing from our time_, stepped over the splintered wood. He fanned himself dramatically with his weapon and pushed his tiny purple sunglasses back up onto his nose.

"Himitsu!" Amira observed.

The Sidereal glanced briefly at me, and then his gaze came to rest on Crazy Quill.

The smile he gave was not very nice at all. "Well now, this is going to be _much _easier than I anticipated!" He exclaimed.

"Get out of here!" I ordered him, not that I thought he would listen. "Right now, or I'm calling the desk!"

I did not understood what "calling the desk" actually meant, but it was what Shadowsbane had told me to do if there were any problems with our room.

"You'd have to be next to a terminal in order to do that. And I think you'll find that a few Dragonbloods and dozen constructs are really no match for an Agent of Heaven." Himitsu called my bluff. Of course, he was standing directly between me and the glass panel that was the "terminal" nearest to the door.

"So you're a Sidereal, hunh?" I observed. I was still getting used to the idea of Veritas's bogeymen being real.

"Chosen of Endings." He bowed dramatically.

"Endings? So you're like a celestial assassin?" I guessed.

"I wouldn't put it that way. Everything that begins has an ending. It's a necessary law of nature." He remarked.

"But you're here to kill us, right?" I watched his steel fan and considered how he'd broken down the door. He was obviously spoiling for a fight and was trying to make me give him one. I decided not to be so predictable. "What if I just surrendered to you right now? Could you still kill me?" I demanded.

"If it were your Fate to die." He replied.

"How do you know what my Fate is? It's Calibration right now. The stars are all moving everywhere, and right now we're not even in Creation!" I reminded him.

With practiced ease, Himitsu drew a second fan out of thin air. "Well, I don't personally believe that Fate is something that one "knows" intuitively. I like a more fluid definition myself. Do you know that old Murqai proverb? How does it go? Ah, yes! _Fate throws fortune, but not everyone catches?_"

"I make my own Fate." I informed him, even as he gave me a really condescending look. Since I didn't like the guy right away, I didn't hesitate to do something I definitely wouldn't have done to someone I knew was an Exalt under normal circumstances.

"Catch this!" I seized the closest thing to me, which happened to be a chair, and hurled it at Himitsu as hard as I could. He easily chopped it to kindling with his massive steel fans, but doing that distracted him just long enough for The Boss to whack him solidly on the head with the flat of his daiklave.

The Sidereal crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Amira wondered.

"He has information we might need." Loren informed her.

"Well played, Faeslayer." Crazy Quill agreed. When he was around, I'd kinda started to get the same feeling that I'd with Himitsu, like maybe I was playing into something that was much more complicated than it seemed.

_If I end up walking right into some kind of a trap, it's going to be your fault!_ I informed the Unconquered Sun. _You should've made me smart like Veritas!_

To be honest, I didn't really want to be as clever as Veritas was. The kinds of things that he was always talking about gave me a headache and caused normal people to stare at him. Even Loren's eyes glazed over sometimes when Veritas really got going, and Loren was one of the smartest people I knew.

After wrapping Himitsu in a sheet and binding his wrists pretty good with the golden cords from the draperies that surrounded Loren and Amira's bed, we heaved him up onto the roof. Veritas took my sword, which I didn't really want to sacrifice and bent its blade with Essence into a pretty intimidating pair of manacles that he seemed to believe would keep our prisoner from escaping when he regained consciousness.

Despite the fact that we'd been caught by Shadowsbane in front of The Caterpiller, Crazy Quill decided that his illustrious ancestor's "humble establishment" was the safest place to take our prisoner. Only Not-Yet-Dead Eddie was awake when we arrived, writing like a maniac. The piles of crumpled papers on his corner table nearly reached to his nose.

He swore incoherently as Crazy Quill waltzed inside, lugging the still-unconscious Himitsu. "We're taking this one into the wine cellar!" Quill proclaimed.

"Stop where you are!" Quill the First snapped. He was standing at the top of the stairs with his arms folded. "This is my property! I have rights! I'll call the authorities!" He warned.

"Please don't. We really need somewhere to hide right now." The Boss admitted. Him and Amira basically didn't have any clothes on, and Quill the First looked a little mortified when he saw the two of them standing in his doorway half naked.

"You can't just bring an unconscious man into my... No!" He blinked in disbelief, obviously recognizing Himitsu. "No! I know who this is! This is Himitsu! He's a _very_ high-ranking Vizier! You can't just _kidnap _a Sidereal! Who are you people?" Quill the First demanded.

"I've already introduced myself to you. I'm Adamant Quill." Crazy Quill bowed dramatically. "A distant relative of yours. As you already know, I'm here in Nexus to sort out some things that..." He paused. "Need sorting?" He suggested, saying nothing.

"So you've said. I still don't believe you." Quill the First retorted.

"You should. Although vague, everything he's told you so far is true." Veritas remarked. "And you should also know that this "Himitsu" character _was _trying to kill us alland_ is_ committing the most _severe _treason imaginable He's an enemy of Creation."

"Shit. You're agents of the Deliberative?" Quill the First observed. He took a deep breath. "Is this about my treatise? Because I stand by what I wrote and I'm not going to apologize for it!"

"_Your drivel _actually got the Deliberative's attention?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie scoffed. "I don't believe it!"

"Hey, be nice! Everybody's gotta start somewhere, _waiter_!" Amira elbowed the would-be playwright, who shot a black look in her direction. "Let's have a look at this controversial treatise, shall we?" She prompted.

With a heavy sigh, Quill The First reached into the breast pocket of his faded hapi coat and produced a single sheet of white paper. He handed it to Amira who unfolded it slowly and read over the entire thing. She sat in silence for a moment, seeming very troubled.

"What did I tell you? Drivel!" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie snorted.

"I hate to break it to you, Deadie... but it's better than anything you'll ever write." She paused. "How many of these have you printed?"

"Fifty thousand." Quill admitted. "I'm starting another run. That's why this place is bankrupt, you understand? I have to make sure everyone stays away from here..." He glanced at Not-Yet-Dead Eddie. "Or we'll get caught. And the revolution will be in danger."

"I see." Crazy Quill observed. He didn't sound at all surprised, but nor did he sound impressed.

I was impressed, and I hadn't even read Quill The First's treatise yet.

"To be honest, I don't like what he's saying, but I don't think he's wrong." Amira admitted. She slid the paper over to The Boss. When he finished the first paragraph, he looked a bit uncomfortable himself.

"I agree." He decided. "This is a very dangerous piece of paper." Loren paused. "But it's not why we're here."

"It's not?" Quill the First wondered uneasily.

"No." Loren replied.

I found that I couldn't keep my own mouth shut. "Do you really think this treatise of yours is going to cause a revolution?"

"One can only hope." Quill The First paused. "But no, you still don't understand! It's the corruption of the Deliberative and the conditions the common people live under that are going to cause the revolution, not my words! I'm just trying to convince people that they should seize control of their own fates. In other cities, The Dragonbloods have already started killing off their masters! They've only hesitated here because they're terrified of The Three Circles Society! Somewhere in Nexus, our enlightened overlords have constructed a device that could _literally _rip Creation in half!" He informed us. "Let's be honest... nobody wants to step on that."

"Nor should they." Veritas paused. "The device that you've just mentioned? That's the reason we're here. We need to get our hands on essential part which belongs to it. It's a rose colored stone, perfectly round and the size of an egg."

"Sounds like a hearthstone." Quill the First observed.

"It looks like one, but it's not. It's a protoscemaic vortex." Veritas explained.

"I don't know what that is." Quill the First admitted. He turned to Crazy Quill, who only shrugged. Sapphire looked confused to. It was nice to see that I wasn't the only one who felt stupid around Veritas.

"It would take me forever to explain. Suffice to say, the Vortex is extremely dangerous. Our enemies are already looking for it, and if it's mishandled the results might be... catastrophic. We have very little time to find it. Please assist us."

"We're on the same side you're on." Loren added. "The side of Creation."

That was my line, but I didn't mind that he'd appropriated it.

"So just how do all of you know so much about this doomsday device anyway?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie demanded. Everyone had been ignoring him and clearly he felt compelled to remind everyone of his presence.

"Well, that's the part you might find a little difficult to believe." Veritas shook his head heavily. He seemed to hesitate for a moment and then looked up to face Quill The First, very purposefully illuminating his Caste Mark. Our Quill followed suit, and so did Sapphire. With a heavy sigh, Loren did the same.

Quill the First jumped out of his skin and Not-Yet-Dead Eddie flipped his chair over and hit the floor. The two stared at one another, and then at the four Solars who were asking for their help.

"We built it." The Boss finished. "And now we've traveled back in time to shut it down before it destroys all of Nexus. We _are _the Three Circles Society."

Roach

The Third Day of Calibration

Loren took it upon himself to stay up all night and explain basically everything to Quill The First. I fell asleep at some point and really couldn't tell you what they talked about. Suffice to say, by the time that I woke up, Crazy Quill disappeared yet again with no explanation. That really set the tone for the day, because each time Quill had previously disappeared, he'd reappeared several hours later, pursued by someone who wanted to kill him and probably the rest of us.

Though Quill The First took his revolution business very seriously, he obviously wasn't ready to put his own life on the line for "the greater good". In more ways than one, the would-be revolutionary was beginning to remind me of our Quill. As it turned out, Quill The First, had put together a pretty impressive contingency plan for himself that would allow him to get out of Nexus if agents of Deliberative were ever sent to arrest him for his controversial writings. "Plan F" involved the use of several different Sewers and short jaunt down a "Celestial Exalts only" portion of the Whispering Serpent. Looking it over a few times, I kinda suspected it would actually work.

When Veritas described the sound that the Well of Udr made, Quill The First marked a place on his sewer map where he'd heard that same bizarre combination of hurricane winds, rushing water, and rolling thunder. It was as good a place to start as any, and we decided to check it out later in the day.

Loren and Veritas spent the entire morning trying to get information out of Himitsu, who remained an unbreakable bastard, while Sapphire, Amira, and I ran around Firewander asking about Quill until someone mentioned that they'd seen Peacekeeper Shadowsbane and his Dragon Guard out looking for us. Then we went back to The Caterpillar to lie low for a little while.

The common room was surprisingly crowded. I couldn't guess why so many people had suddenly decided to start taking their midday meal at a place that didn't serve anything which remotely resembled food... but then I realized that there were stacks and stacks of Quill The First's notorious treatise just arrived from the printers. Everyone present was collecting a stack and quickly leaving The Caterpillar, presumably to spread the message.

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie groaned and moaned about having to work, and Sapphire dodged all of the eager revolutionaries who were praising the most recent work of Adamant Quill. She had an irritated expression on her face the whole time. Clearly she was beginning to suspect the same thing that I did, that we were somehow being played... and that it was probably the Sidereals who were still one step ahead of us.

When we finally did worm our way through the crowd and managed to get down to the wineceller, we discovered that Loren had taken a fairly substantial blow to the head and Veritas had been tied up in the sword restraint that he'd made for Himitsu. Quill The First was nowhere to be found, and neither was our prisoner.

"What happened?" Sapphire demanded. Loren only groaned.

"Stupid Sidereal." Godchaser seethed, hissing the word as if it were the worst curse she could think of.

Apparently, Himitsu had tried to steal her after setting himself free, but he'd failed to realize that Veritas was well aware that many Sidereals were intent on getting their hands on his beloved construct and had equipped her to defend herself in just such a situation. Godchaser had apparently electrocuted Himitsu "like ten lightning spears!", and he'd decided that she was "an insane, evil machine"... which was an understatement if I'd ever heard one.

Fortunately, the Sidereal had been surprisingly sloppy in the process of his escape, and Godchaser was able to track his Essence halfway across Firewander. His trail ran cold right above a ladder leading out of the sewers, the same one that was marked on Quill The First's "Plan F".

We all stared up.

"This is a trap." Sapphire decided.

"Without a doubt." Veritas agreed. "But we if we lose Himitsu now, we might never catch up with him again. So what we need to do now is find some way to make this trap look like it didn't actually work."

"I've got a plan!" I volunteered.

Amira crossed her arms and glared at me. "Really?"

"Amira, you disguised yourself as Dragonblood when you came to rescue me from Yarati." I prompted. "Can you make yourself look like anyone else?"

"No. There's a ritual involved. I actually have to kill someone if want to take their form. And I'd really rather not do that." She admitted. "That Dragonblood was a bastard, honestly. He had it coming to him. But even still, it was..."

"Intimate." Loren interrupted her. "There is another way." He explained. "But it's not... um, well..."

"I'm not going to do it with just anybody." Amira finished.

"Oh Gods? Really?" Sapphire made the most awful face I'd ever seen.

Amira sighed in defeat. She folded her hands behind her back and bowed her head for a moment, muttering some Old Realm obscenity that my spider wouldn't translate.

When she looked back up at us, she was Loren.

"That's..." Sapphire began.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed.

"I was going to say _incredibly creepy_." Sapphire grimaced. "So can any Lunar do what you just did?"

"No, it's not something I'm actually supposed to know. The No Moons like to keep certain secrets for themselves. But my mentor Laughing Mask was... a bit of an anarchist. He taught me a lot of things he wasn't supposed to." Amira-Loren admitted.

"Okay, so let's say I've had sex with..." Sapphire began. She didn't get a chance to finish her question.

Amira-Loren cackled, bouncing up and down. It was weird to see someone who looked like The Boss acting like Amira. "Viper? Luna's blessed tits! Hah! Oh, she's probably used it on you already!"

"Anarchist" didn't even begin to describe Viper. I smiled slightly.

"I don't even want to know." Veritas sighed heavily. "Though I must admit, Roach's plan may actually work."

"Send me up first!" I volunteered. "Himitsu's expecting you two, right?" I turned to Loren and Veritas. "So I put on Godchaser, he's not going to realize that I'm _me _right away. He'll see me and Amira, and he'll think that _we're_ you two!"

"That should distract him long enough for both of us to shape some sorcery." Veritas smiled slightly, and Loren nodded. "But Godchaser is extremely heavy, Roach! You might not be able to carry her."

"I'll hover!" Godchaser volunteered. "Hee!"

Obviously, somebody liked my plan.

It was pretty weird having the construct wrapped all around me. As Veritas had warned, I felt a little bit like I was wearing a jacket made of lead, despite the fact that Godchaser was hovering slightly to keep me from having to bear the burden of her full weight.

She giggled.

"This whole thing is going to look... odd." Loren admitted.

"Well, it doesn't have to work for very long!" Veritas smiled slightly.

"And you've got me too!" Sapphire volunteered. "If the four of you make a big enough circus out of this trap, it won't matter how many Sidereals are waiting for us in there. If no one is looking at me, I can take them _all _out!"

I didn't doubt that she could.

I started to climb the wall. "You want some help up there, Roach?" Loren wondered.

"Nah, I got it!" I winked, using the leg-up that Sapphire discreetly offered me in order to get myself onto the bottom rug of the ladder. At the top was a metal plate, definitely too heavy for any normal city worker to have put into place. When I pounded on it with my fist, it felt like steel, but when I put my nose up against it and tried to push, I realized that it had a weird smell.

"Hey, I think I found a big piece of orichalcum!" I shouted down. "You want to get up here and push it out of the way, Boss?" He suggested.

"Allow me." Veritas volunteered. I hopped down from my perch. Invoking a Charm that I hadn't heard him use before, he reached up and touched the metal. It became liquid in his grasp, snaked around him and then re-solidified into a shape that made me think of a flame frozen in time.

"Oooh, neat Charm!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"I haven't perfected it yet. It won't stay re-constituted." He admitted, though he still looked smug. The piece of metal that he'd reshaped had turned into a puddle and was dripping into the sewer.

"Anything else in our way?" Loren wondered.

Sapphire gave me another boost up. With the orichalcum plate out of the way, I found a cleverly concealed trap door made of ordinary metal. There was a creaking sound as I pried it open. For a minute, all any of us could hear was our own breathing. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the bright light I'd emerged out into, and when I realized where we were, a few choice curse words escaped me.

"Loren, you're not going to believe this!" I shouted down, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be disguised as Veritas. "Get up here, now!"

I'd just climbed out of the Well of Udr. But there was no blue light, no whistling or whooshing sound. The Well was just a ring of lifeless stone standing in the middle of Perfect's laboratory which had been completely ransacked.

Amira-Loren poked her head out of the Well. Because her Loren disguise didn't change her clothing, she looked odd. Amira didn't like clothes, generally speaking. At The Caterpillar she'd donned a one-piece brown garment that looked like a dress made from a tent.

I smiled slightly, remember how Amira had once forced The Boss into a dress so that we could sneak him past the Wyld Hunt into Nexus. He'd been absolutely mortified the entire time. Seeing Amira flouncing around like her usual self while wearing Loren's face was _very _weird.

But of course, my life hadn't been normal in a long time.

I didn't notice that Sapphire had come to the surface at all until she tugged on Godchaser and revealed that she was hiding behind me. There was still no sign of any Sidereal trap. After a few minutes of waiting, we decided that the coast was clear and Loren and Veritas came up.

Amira resumed her usual form.

We all surveyed the mess. Amira gave a low whistle.

"She moved it." Veritas observed. "Perfect moved the Well. And the protoscemaic vortex with it."

"Yeah, but where to?" Wasn't The Well in White Gold Tower when Quill originally found it?" I asked.

"That's what he told me, but I'm starting to wonder much we should really trust him." Sapphire admitted. "We've been in this mess for days now and he's left us to take care of almost everything on our own. Granted, he did save you four back at The Monolith, but that's not going to get him a "Circlemate of the Year" award."

"No kidding." I rolled my eyes. "Sapphire, you know Quill better than any of us do. If he wanted to hide something, where would he put it?"

"Well, I know that he did move it under The Tomb of Red Hot Iron in Nighthammer." Sapphire admitted. She looked awfully nervous and was watching every corner of the laboratory like she still thought we were being watched. "That's where I accidentally activated for the second time. But I don't know where that would be in relation to where we are now... and Quill's too smart to use the same hiding place twice."

"Aren't we looking for where Perfect would hide the Well?" Loren wondered.

"As far as we know." I nodded. "But if we want to figure out where Perfect would put the Well, we've got to know who she's trying to hide it from. The Deathknights or The Sidereals?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Quill." Sapphire decided.

"I was going to say Himitsu." I admitted. "That guy took on Veritas _and_ Loren! At the same time!"

"He's a lot stronger than he looks." Loren admitted.

Veritas gave Sapphire a strange look. "Quill?" He asked. "Granted, he's been running around all by himself like a madman, but... that's typical for him. I don't think he actually understands the concept of teamwork."

Sapphire hesitated "There's something I should have told you all a long time ago. Quill's been through the Well before. More than once." She admitted, looking very ashamed to have kept something so important from the rest of.

"Sapphire!" Veritas gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was all before I met either of you! Two years ago, Quill took me here and showed me around. We lived like kings for four days and then The Usurpation started and he made me watch the whole thing. The worst parts of it. I couldn't sleep for months. Viper kept asking me why, but I couldn't tell her. Quill made me swear an oath never to tell anyone!" Sapphire confessed.

"An oath sealed under heaven which you've now broken?" Veritas observed. "I hope that you understand that the consequences of telling us this could be as severe for you as the consequences of not telling us could have been for all of Creation.

"I should never have agreed to lie for him." Sapphire sighed heavily. "And whatever the price is, I'm just going to have to pay it now." She rubbed her nose, and for a minute it looked like she was about to start crying. "You... you should know there's more. Quill is..."

She didn't finish what she'd been about to say, and Veritas didn't pressure her to.

We weren't alone. Himitsu and The Green Lady stood like a king and a queen on a chessboard in the doorway of the laboratory. About four feet away from them, Amira stood frozen.

"Loren?" She whispered feebily. I'd never seen her so terrified before, and it took me a moment to realize why. There was a scorpion on her neck, but no normal animal. It was a construct of some kind, like one of Veritas's spiders, but clearly constructed with a more malevolent purpose in mind.

"Don't move, Amira. I'll take care of this!" Loren soothed, not taking his eyes off of Himitsu or the Green Lady. They both looked very smug and I slowly began to realize that we'd all played right into their hands.

"All of you, put your weapons down... and step away from The Well." The Green Lady ordered. "You may be fast, Faeslayer, but you know my Automaton Assassin is_ much_ quicker."

Sapphire obediently dropped her firewands. Since I didn't have a weapon myself, I just held my hands up in the air. So did Veritas.

I noticed with some amusement that he wasn't carrying anything obviously dangerous, like his lightning spear... but he was wearing the exploding glove he'd stolen from his previous incarnation.

I wondered how neither of the Sidereals seemed to notice that Well had already been moved out of White Gold Tower. If both of them had passed through it at least once, how could they fail to realize that the stone ring we were standing in front of should have been glowing bright blue and making a whole lot of noise?

"Let her go!" Loren ordered, advancing a step.

The Green Lady was on him lighting fast. She was definitely a martial artist, but fortunately, so was The Boss. Veritas lunged forward himself, firing a burst from his gauntlet at Himitsu. He dodged as if he hadn't even be standing in front of the door.

The Green Lady obviously decided that she'd gotten more than she bargained for when Loren nearly ran her through with his daiklave. A sea of spiders flowed out from the sleeves of the sheer black garment she wore, but they didn't get very far. Veritas's little army of constructs blocked their path.

"You know Sidereal martial arts?" The Green Lady wondered, eying Veritas suspiciously.

"No." Veritas admitted. "I just like spiders."

"Hee!" Godchaser exclaimed. I couldn't get out from underneath her quickly enough. There were tiny copper and orichalcum spiders literally pouring out of her by the bucketful. Himitsu drew both of his steel fans out of Elsewhere. Spiders swarmed around him.

Both of the Sidereals looked _very _nervous, like they really couldn't think of anything worse to be facing.

"I said, put your weapons down!" The Green Lady repeated. The scorpion on Amira's neck pulled back its tail to strike, and she cringed. Loren froze, barely parrying one of Himitsu's fans. "And that means all of them!"

Sapphire stood right behind the Green Lady with her boot knife, but the Sidereal evidently knew that she was there. She craned her neck slightly and Sapphire obediently dropped her weapon. Veritas slipped off his glove, tossed it on the ground, and motioned for his army of spiders to stop advancing. Loren sighed in defeat. His daiklave made a sound like an Imperial gong as it struck the marble floor.

"No!" Amira cried. "Loren, don't! She's going to kill you!"

And that was the last thing she said. As soon as she moved, the scorpion struck.

Amira choked and collapsed.

"Amira!" Loren called his daiklave, and it came flying back into his grasp. Holding the sword out in front of him, he did something I'd only seen him do once before. When he'd saved me from getting eaten by The Alabastar Duchess, he'd fired a burst of Essence from his daiklave that tore through anything in its way with the force of a hurricane.

The attack that Loren had struck with took out the front doors of White Gold Tower, not that I suspected anyone in Nexus would notice the explosion. Still, I was impressed. He'd sent two slabs of solid orichalcum flying into the air like a couple of pieces of paper. Almost no one could have reacted quicker, but somehow, a mere heartbeat before Loren would cut both of them in half, the two Sidereals had disappeared. Amira was also gone, and I could only guess that they'd taken her with them.

I got the distinct impression that there was something very wrong with what the Sidereals had just done, something that should have been inherently impossible. But what I really couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that Amira might be dead. I'd ruined my own stupid plan and gotten my best friend's wife killed. It wasn't something I could forgive myself for.

_How could you let something like this happen? _I demanded, gazing skyward. There was no answer from the Unconquered Sun. Then again, there never was.

At first, Loren didn't say anything at all. He didn't move or even breath. The first thought that came to my mind was that he was broken, that the strength he always seemed to possess had suddenly and inexplicably deserted him. The Boss looked worse than I'd ever seen him before, like part of him had just died.

He stared at Veritas who was blazing with Essence after activating all of his spiders at once. The look on his face was really, really scary. He stared at his friend as if he didn't know who he was and had never seen anyone more horrifying. And then Loren uttered a word that I never thought I'd hear him speak again.

"Anathema!"

"_What did you call me_?" Veritas curled up his lip into a condescending sneer... a face that suited his previous incarnation much better than it suited him. I knew from experience that he twitched whenever he heard someone say the word "demon" or "Anathema" in reference to a Solar, but I'd never seen him quite so upset. The way he was reacting wasn't at all rational. I might have turned tail and started running away if I hadn't been so worried about The Boss.

"Stay away from me, demon!" Loren ordered, stumbling to his feet. "I mean it!"

"How dare you..." Veritas fumed. And then he stopped. He blinked several times as if he'd just woken up from sleep. "I... ah, sorry." He apologized. "I don't know what came over me."

"You all right, Loren?" Sapphire wondered. She was glowing too, not as brightly as Veritas, but her shroud cloth was tucked in her pocket and her Caste Mark was obvious.

Loren backed away from her.

"Faeslayer, what's the matter with you? Have you lost your mind?" Veritas demanded. As he strode towards Loren, I saw that the Boss was retreating as quick as he could.

He was afraid?

Not for the first time, I considered what The Shoat had told me outside of The Blue Lagoon.

"Stop, it! Veritas, Sapphire... stay back. Loren doesn't know who you are!" I shouted.

Truthfully, I didn't expect that he would recognize me either, not in the state that he was in... but when I drew attention to myself, The Boss relaxed slightly. Sapphire took my hand and squeezed it as I approached Loren. She clearly didn't know what was happening either and was as worried.

The Boss noticed that little gesture of familiarity and turned to me with an incredulous expression on his face. "Roach? You know these demons?" He demanded.

"Yeah, and so do you! Damnit, Boss! Look at me! Do you trust me?" I asked.

He hesitated, but not for long.

"Yes." He decided.

"There's something wrong with your mind, Loren." I explained. "We want to help you, but you have to let us. These are your friends, Sapphire, and Veritas. You call him Recluse. You remember Recluse, right?"

He nodded only slightly, and I didn't get the impression that he remembered anything at all.

"Where are we, Roach?" Loren whispered uneasily. "Why are my friends Anathema?"

"They're not Anathema. That's a bad word. They're Solars, Boss. And you're a Solar too." I told him.

He stared at me in disbelief.

"Look at yourself, you great big idiot!" Sapphire knelt down and tried to take Loren's hand. He recoiled like he'd been struck by a snake and she sighed heavily, producing a little steel mirror from one of the many pouches on her belt.

Loren stared. His Caste Mark had only barely started to flicker, but it was unmistakable.

"No!" He cursed, trying to stand. His legs gave out and he slid down to the floor.

I realized as I saw him sitting there shaking, that I was witnessing what it must have been like for him when he Exalted. He really, truly, thought that he was a monster... and that everyone he loved was a monster too. For someone like The Boss, who always tried to be so damned _good_ - I couldn't think of a more awful curse.

I wanted to reassure Loren that everything was going to be all right, but neither Veritas or I got another word in. Before I could try to explain, Crazy Quill came busting through the front doors of the laboratory.

He was out of his "poor peasant" attire and dressed all in white. I might have mistaken him for Veritas considering the cloak that he wore, but the ivory mask that dangled from the orichalcum chain around his neck wasn't smiling like Godchaser nearly always was. His Caste Mark blazed, and he looked huge and terrifying.

I'd always suspected the bastard was hiding something, and now I knew _exactly _what Sapphire had been trying to tell us before the Sidereals made their appearance.

"You're The Emissary!" Veritas blurted out. His tone suggested that he'd suspected such a thing all along but wasn't exactly pleased to discover that his suspicions were corrected.

"The Emissary?" Loren echoed. "Roach, what's going on?" He demanded.

"Oh, I'd dearly hoped that it wouldn't come to this!" Quill inhaled deeply. His eyes were bloodshot and he was shaking like a drug addict. There was no way he was in his right mind, and from how Veritas and Sapphire both gave him a whole lot of space, I figured that they noticed how he moved and jerked around like he was at war with his own body.

"I'm sorry, Faeslayer. But you've forced my hand and _now I have no choice_!" Without a moment's hesitation, he leveled a lightning spear at Loren.

I'm not really sure if Veritas moved first or if I did, but Godchaser tackled Quill and I shoved The Boss.

There was a deafening explosion and a blinding flash of light. Pain like nothing I'd ever felt before made me crumple up like a rag doll and I stared up at the ceiling, my vision blurring.

Was I breathing? Was I dead?

I knew that I'd taken a hit meant to kill Loren, and that was all. My head swam and I felt myself sinking into the dark. And then I heard a voice, a woman's voice that I was sure I'd heard before, in a time that I couldn't remember. "You're going to die, _Abadiyah_."

"No!" I protested. I didn't want to die!

"Oh yes. You are, and there is nothing you can do about it!" The woman replied.

"You're lying!" I argued, though my own words didn't sound convincing to me.

"Why would I lie to you, Abadiyah? You're a _very special boy_ andI want to protect you... if you'll let me. You wouldn't have to be afraid of anything. Nothing would ever be able to hurt you again." She whispered. "And you would be strong, like your friends. You'd like that, wouldn't you? They wouldn't look down on you any more. You poor orphan. You could become my child, you know. I could become your mother."

That was when I realized that the voice I was hearing belonged to The Dowager herself. There was no mistaking the offer that was being put in front of me. She'd save me from death as she promised, but she'd make me into a monster like The Shoat and her "Sister".

"No!" I would have cursed at her if I hadn't been so damned afraid, if I hadn't been acutely aware of the cold and of my own life force ebbing away. "No!" I protested. "I won't! You can't make me! No! I..."

My resolve began to falter.

I'd already seen that The Dowager was right. My friends, even Loren, were all insane! Creation couldn't possibly go back to the way it had once been! If the Solars ever returned to power, they'd destroy the world from the inside out! They _were _cursed!

The worst part was, I didn't know if I'd ever really been on the right side at all, or if I'd just let my own personal feelings cloud my judgment. Maybe I'd made Loren into a hero in my own mind. Maybe I'd decided that Sapphire and even Veritas were all right too, because they were his friends.

When had I started thinking that any of them were _my _friends?

My mother had been right all along, I decided. The Unconquered Sun had not made me clever, he hadn't made me strong, and he didn't even notice when I prayed to him! It would have made sense to give up right then, but something told me not to, and so I fought against my own fear with all of the strength I had left.

_Help me. _I prayed to The Unconquered Sun. _If you've ever cared, if you've ever listened..._

No response. Of course not.

"Consider what I'm offering you." Mother soothed. "This is your chance, Abadiyah. Your _only_ chance. Think about it!" She advised.

So I did. I thought long and hard.

And then I told her _no_.

Roach

The Last Day of Calibration

Waking up was nasty business, but I'd expected to be dead... so just the fact that I my heart was still beating felt like a bona-fide miracle. I was wrapped in so many bandages that I couldn't really move. We were back at The Caterpillar. Loren was sitting at my bedside with his head buried in his hands. He looked exhausted.

Sapphire and Veritas were hunched over a bottle of wine with a stack of papers and about fifty of his orichalcum spiders between the two of them. Half of the spiders were working on repairing one of Sapphire's firewands and the rest were fiddling with Godchaser, who wasn't conscious and seemed to be very badly singed.

I didn't see any sign of Amira or Quill. I couldn't guess what time or day it was, but I got the distinct feeling that I'd been out for awhile.

Sapphire glanced at Loren, who didn't seem to notice her. "So he doesn't even remember what happened to Roach?" She whispered to Veritas.

"I know how it sounds." Veritas admitted. "Sapphire, I wish I had an explanation for you, but... I've never witnessed anything like this before. Although I do remember Rhapsody saying something about all Solars being _cursed_."

"Cursed?" Sapphire raised an eyebrow in my direction. "All of us? Who could do something like that? And _why would they_?"

"Why, I don't know. But as for who… I'm betting Sidereals." Veritas replied.

"You think that Sidereals are behind everything!" Sapphire scolded.

"Because they _are _behind everything!" I protested, trying to sit up. That turned out to be a mistake.

Both Sapphire and Veritas raced over to my bedside. Loren jumped. He also shook me furiously, which hurt a lot.

"Roach!" He gasped. "You're alive?"

"Only _barely!_" I informed him. I decided not to mention that it still hurt to breathe.

"Sun-in-Glory, I thought I'd lost you!" Loren shook his head heavily.

The fact that The Boss had appropriated Veritas's peculiar curse made me smile. Clearly, he was himself again.

"What happened?" Loren turned to me. "I know how you got hurt, but what happened to me? Why didn't I stop that lunatic from shooting you? I must have had an opportunity!"

"I don't know, Loren." I admitted. "When Amira collapsed, it was like you just... broke."

He sat in silence for a moment, considering what I'd said. "I _knew_ there was something wrong with me. I could feel it building up, but I couldn't... I couldn't do anything about it." He felt silent.

"It's a curse." Veritas explained. "It's nothing that you can control, Faeslayer. What we have to do is figure out who did this to us, so that we can all get back to the way that we were meant to be. But that may take a long time. The best we can do for now is try to watch each other."

"And ask for help." I supplied. Veritas gave me an odd look. "Pray." I clarified.

"Pray?" Sapphire echoed, like I'd just said something crazy.

Loren frowned.

"You don't pray? None of you?" I really couldn't believe it.

"I used to." Veritas admitted.

"You guys are unbelievable! You are the Chosen of the most powerful God there is... and you _never_ ask him for help? I try to talk to him all the time and he probably doesn't even know I exist!" I sighed heavily. "Somebody open the window?" I suggested.

Loren got up and did as I'd asked. The sun was just clearing the horizon line. Sapphire blinked owlishly. Veritas smiled. So did Loren. There were still some clouds, but the sunrise was absolutely spectacular.

Then, to my surprise, Veritas cleared his throat and began to recite a prayer that I knew very well. The words were somewhat different in Flametongue, the way my Murqai cousins spoke it, but the meaning was the same. Sapphire blinked in surprise, obviously recognizing the prayer herself. By the second line we were all reciting it together.

"_Sol __Invictus, __powerful __and __mighty, __bestower __of __great __gifts_

_ Who __cherishes __and __nurtures, __through __whom __we __live __and __draw __the __breath __of __being,_

_ We __offer __and __accord __you __the __highest __thanks._

_ Please __hear __and __aid us__, __and __help__ us __out __of __misfortune._

_ Grant__ us __peace, __safety __and __good __health._ _ Show__ our __eyes __the __truth, __place __only __kind __words __upon__ our __tongues_

_And __guide__ our __actions __to __the __betterment __of __all. __Protect__ us as we __work __in __your __name_."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I heard The Boss finish in Old Realm, just a little slower than the rest of us. The clouds moved, and rays of light suddenly illuminated our ugly little room.

"See? The Unconquered Sun heard that! He heard it!" I exclaimed, fairly jumping out of my bed. For about a minute, I felt completely cured. Then I remembered that I'd almost been killed and slumped back down, dizzy and woozy.

"We're outside of Fate, Roach. We'd have to be very, very, lucky... and even then, if the God did hear us, he wouldn't necessary help us." Veritas informed me. Though he was trying to sound like a scholar of theology, he couldn't fool me. I'd seen him with Rhapsody, and I knew he was a believer.

"Are you kidding? He's already has helped us!" Sapphire looked positively awed. "Why did we never do that before? I used to pray. I don't know why I stopped. I guess I just started thinking that I didn't need to ask for help." She paused. "That's incredibly stupid, isn't it?"

"It's not stupid. Sometimes I forget too." Loren took Sapphire's hand, and Veritas put in his own. Their Caste Marks all flickered faintly, and I realized that what they were doing was sort of like what my Murqai cousins did when they cut their palms, shook hands and became "blood brothers".

"This, right here, right now..." Loren smiled. "Is _exactly _what a Circle is supposed to be!"

It felt good to watch the three of them discover something that had always been pretty obvious to me.

_Nice work_. I told the Unconquered Sun, not that he needed the complement. As Sapphire sometimes called him, "The Big Guy" was nothing if impressive. He also had really great dramatic timing.

"Roach?" Veritas turned to me. "Get over here, will you?"

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

"We decided when you were out." Sapphire explained. "We want you to join our new Circle."

"Are you serious?" I stared at her like I wasn't sure what I'd heard. Loren smiled.

"You bet." Sapphire nodded. "None of us would be here if it weren't for you."

"Don't think you can get out of this just because you're mortal! You're swearing in!" Veritas smirked.

"Do I get a vote?" I asked hopefully.

"The same as the rest of us." Loren replied.

"And you're not going to try to leave me behind anymore?" I prompted. "If I want to go, I can go anywhere you do?"

"Yes." Loren promised.

"All right then." I couldn't exactly walk, but I scooted in his direction and put my hand in. I could feel the Essence swirling around Veritas, Sapphire and Loren. When they passed it to each other, I could actually feel it move right through me.

I remember thinking very clearly... _this is the power of the Unconquered Sun! _

_This is what it's like to be a Solar!_

It was absolutely the coolest feeling in the world.

Virtually every soldier imagines what it would be like to be part of a real Sworn Brotherhood, to go out out on adventures, kill monsters, save princesses, and generally do the kind of things that other people write books about. As far as I knew, however, no Dragonblood had ever invited a non-Dragonblood to join his Sworn Brotherhood.

I wondered if any other mortal had ever been inducted into a Solar Circle before.

"From here on out, we act as one!" Loren announced. "We look after each other."

"No secrets!" Sapphire decided. "We make decisions together."

We do what The Unconquered Sun wants. We fix Creation." Veritas added.

"And we protect it." Loren finished. "From fae, demons, deathknights. "

"And other Solars." Sapphire added.

"And Sidereals." Veritas finished. "_Nothing _gets past us!"

"Are we all agreed?" Loren asked. "At this point, The Eclipse Caste of our Circle would normally bind us all together under Heaven, but since the only Eclipse Caste we know is a lunatic..."

"I think a promise is sufficient." Veritas replied. "We're supposed to trust each other, aren't we?" He paused for a moment. "So what do we call ourselves now? We're not exactly the Three Circles Society anymore."

"Thank the Unconquered Sun for that!" Sapphire rolled her eyes. "I think one lifetime of almost destroying the world is enough, don't you?

"I suppose we'll have to consider some options." Veritas admitted. "When we have some more time, that is." He took a deep breath. "So, Circlemates?"

I grinned. After letting go of Loren's hand, I couldn't feel the Essence flowing anymore, but I knew that it was still there. Sometimes mortal monks and thamaturges learned to work Essence. The same was true of priests. My own mother had been an Essence-user. For the first time in my life, I considered that maybe I could become one myself.

"This is where we currently stand." Veritas announced. "Adamant Quill is The Emissary. He is probably old enough to remember the Usurpation, though I've no idea how he survived it."

"I know." Sapphire sighed heavily. "His relative, Quill The First?" She prompted. "Quill _is _Quill."

"You mean, our Quill _is _his own esteemed 'ancestor'? The one who's been writing those inflammatory treatises and trying to overthrow the Deliberative?" Veritas frowned.

Sapphire nodded. "Today, in the middle of the Usurpation, is when he Exalts." She explained. "His own revolutionaries almost eat him alive. But he gets away. He never explained exactly how."

"The Well." Loren interrupted. "Plan F. He used the Well of Udr."

"But the Well wasn't there when we used Quill's escape plan! Perfect moved it!"

"This time, she did." Sapphire explained. "But whatever this world is, it's not the real past. It plays the same five days of Calibration over and over again. Sometimes, things are slightly different. But the ending is always the same."

"I see. If Quill used the Well of Udr to escape the Usurpation 1,500 years ago, it does explain how the Sidereals missed him when they killed the rest of us." Veritas observed. "You know, he went on for awhile the other night on the nature of oppression. How power corrupts, and how did he put it? Absolute power corrupts absolutely?"

"That is _a lot_ of irony." I observed. "Have any of you seen Quill The First recently?"

"Not since long before Quill The Mad tried to kill us all." Veritas admitted.

"Those two Quills aren't our only problem. Amira has been kidnapped. The Sidereals have every reason to keep her alive. They wouldn't have taken her with them if she was dead when she hit the floor." The Boss explained. "Himitsu and The Green Lady must be after the protoscemaic vortex just like we are. Amira is going to be their bargaining chip."

I raised my hand. It seemed important that I volunteer the information that I'd been witholding myself.

"The Shoat of The Mire is here. Her Sister probably is too."

"Roach!" Loren exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

I hesitated. "The Dowager made me an offer." I confessed.

"Don't tell me you actually considered it?" Loren stared at me in disbelief.

"The Shoat told me that you were cursed, Loren. She told me that you were losing your mind, and I didn't believe her. But then you lost it. And I... yeah, I considered it." It felt like an enormous concession to make.

"I see." Loren observed. His face was impossible to read, and I felt awful for reminding him what had happened. I knew that it was something that would weigh heavily on him for a long time.

"So now what?" Veritas wondered. "Now you know it's true. We _are _all cursed."

"But you're still the good guys." I informed him.

"Right." Loren grinned.

A shot from a firewand shattered our window. Sapphire cursed. She ran to the window, looked out and cursed again.

"It's chaos out there." She informed us. "The Usurpation's started."

Veritas nodded. "I know. We're not here to change history. We're here to stop The Well of Udr. In order to do that, we need one of its parts, the only one I couldn't locate anywhere in Creation. The protoscemaic vortex. Whoever takes hold of it can use it to control of this entire world."

"That's a pretty tall order for a little hearthstone." Sapphire whistled.

"That's what I was trying to explain before. The protoscemaic vortex isn't a hearthstone." Veritas shook his head heavily. "It's one of the souls of a Primordial that I killed back in the war. _She of The Sorrowful Eyes_." He finished. "The Weeping Maiden."

"This is why we shouldn't lie to each other!" Loren informed all of us. "Damnit, Recluse! Now everything makes sense!"

I was still confused, but I figured that was mostly because I'd lost a lot of blood and missed a few things.

"Faeslayer's right." Veritas grudgingly admitted. "If I'd known that Quill was the Emissary and that the Dowager's agents were here, I might have put this all together earlier." He sighed heavily. "You all know that the Deathlords were formerly Solars. And I believe that my old rival, Tess Endymion, whom I consulted with on the building of the Well, may now be The Dowager." Veritas paused. "You see, Tess was a student of The Weeping Maiden when it still seemed as though The Maiden would side with Autochthon and Gaia against the other Primordials in the War. When The Weeping Maiden decided to return to the Wyld, Tess was crushed. After the War ended, she was never the same. It's not difficult to believe that she would have turned against The Unconquered Sun. Tess... sometimes she would call The Weeping Maiden "Mother"."

"The Dowager does seem to have an obsession with that whole... mother-child relationship." I admitted.

"So you think The Dowager wants to set _her_ "Mother" free?" Loren paused.

"It's one theory. Obviously, someone wants The Weeping Maiden released, and if it's not the Dowager, it's either those Sidereals or Quill. We need to find that protoscemaic vortex before Calibration ends."

"Which is?" I prompted. I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious.

"Sunset tonight." Veritas finished. "We've lost a day. But I believe we can still do this. We're just going to need help."

"Help? Amira's gone and Quill almost killed us! If we can't trust the people we came here with, who can we trust?" I demanded. I immediately regretted sitting up so quickly.

"Ourselves." Veritas replied. "We don't have any other options. We have to get our past selves involved. And we have to tell them _everything_."

"I suppose we shouldn't wast any more time then. I think my firewands are good to go. How's Godchaser coming along?" Sapphire wondered.

"I feel like I have spiders in my insides." Godchaser announced. She was awake.

"That's because you do have spiders in your insides." Veritas replied.

"Oh. Okay then." Godchaser replied. Veritas gathered up his spiders and covered her in a worn brown cloak. "Aw, it's so ugly! Can't I wear something else?" She complained.

"Do you want to be dismantled?" He warned her. "There are people trying to kill us, remember?"

"Ah, that's right! Am I... stealthy?" The construct wondered eagerly.

"Very stealthy." Sapphire nodded.

"Hee!" Godchaser exclaimed.

I stood up and stumbled a little. Loren almost immediately moved to put me back in bed.

"If we've only got until sundown to save Creation. I'm not staying in bed!" I informed him.

I still wasn't exactly steady on my feet, but after the promise he'd made to me, I knew Loren wouldn't force me to stay behind. He sighed in defeat.

"All right, but stay close to me! This could get dangerous!" Loren informed me, as if that was something I didn't know.

"Hey. This city has blown its top and right now you guys have all got targets on your heads! Being anywhere near you is dangerous!" I replied.

"Targets?" Sapphire gasped.

"Oh yeah. _Your_ Caste Mark _really _looks like a target!" I informed her.

"I gotta hand it to you, Roach. These last four days, I was starting to feel a little like a God. Everybody does whatever you say, you get you whatever you want all of the time, you never have to pay for anything..." Sapphire paused. "But now it's just like we're home again, except instead of everyone screaming "Aaah, Anathema!" they're all organized and chanting "Down with the Golden Overlords". Apparently, Quill's little treatise on correct government is really getting around."

"It _was_ pretty damn good. You know, I bet if he hadn't Exalted, the revolutionaries would have crowned him king or something like that." I paused. "Maybe this Caterpillar hellhole would have become a monument?"

Sapphire paused. "I just realized something!" She exclaimed. "Caterpillars turn into Chrysalises! And Chrysalis makes us butterflies!"

"I've no idea what you're talking about." Loren admitted.

"You don't know about Chrysalis?" Sapphire blinked incredulously. Veritas looked equally surprised. "Well, damn! I thought every Solar knew about Chrysalis! Chrysalis is a secret organization all over Creation which _hides _Solars. Quill founded it. He doesn't run it any more though. Windswept Rhapsody does. Ask her about it when we get home. She'll explain everything better than I can." Sapphire advised, clapping him on the back.

"So it all started here?" I observed.

"_We _were the first_ hiding_ Solars!" Sapphire beamed. "The first Solars that everybody wanted to kill!"

"I don't know it that's something to be proud of." Loren admitted.

"I take what I can get." Sapphire informed him.

We'd made it down the stairs. The common room of The Caterpillar was empty. Pieces of Not-Quite-Dead Eddie's play were all over the floor. I doubted the playwright had intentionally destroyed his work and wondered momentarily where he'd gone. There were an awful lot of copies of Quill's treatise too. I picked one up, folded it, and put it in my own pocket for safekeeping.

"You know, it _is _effectively open season on Solars out there right now." Veritas remarked casually, glancing at Loren.

"So? What are you worried about? You've got an army of spiders hiding in your clothes! And Godchaser did kick the crap out of Himitsu all by herself!" I reminded him. "Loren's got a sword that can cut down buildings, Sapphire can jump over them... you're all big damn heroes!"

"I suppose _we_ are." Loren admitted, a nostalgic grin on his face. He looked directly at me as he said that, and so did Sapphire.

"You and Godchaser did save the rest of us." She reminded me.

"I'm a hero!" Godchaser beamed. She swooped off of Veritas's shoulders and nudged me with her mask.

"What are you doing?" I wondered uneasily.

"Giving you a hug." She replied. "Because you're a hero too."

"Doesn't a hug usually involves arms?" I asked.

"I _know_!" Godchaser sighed in exasperation. "But my Maker won't build me any! Heroes should have arms, Maker. Big damn arms for big damn hugs!" She informed Veritas.

"Big damn heroes." Veritas echoed. From the way he repeated those words, I suspected that he'd picked a new name for our Circle.

It did have a certain ring to it.


	13. Chapter 13 - The Usurpation Begins

**Chapter 13 - ROACH**

Since Shadowsbane already knew the four of us, and was, as Sapphire professed, the youngest and "least crazy" of The Three Circles Society, we decided to find him first. We didn't have to look far. The first huge plume of fire to blacken the sky came from his residence on the waterfront.

The moment we learned that the Usurpation had already struck Vigilant Citadel, Sapphire took off running. With how she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, only Loren and Veritas could actually follow her. I kept my head down and did my best to flow through the rioters and units of Dragonblooded troops that filled the streets, clashing with Solar automatons and loyalists.

With everything I'd seen, it surprised me that everyone _wasn't _supporting the revolution... but then again, I wasn't giving up on my friends either. Even if they were cursed, I had to believe that the good in them would prove stronger in the end.

Taking the low road and not getting shot at like the rest of them, who were basically blowing their cover repeatedly by refusing to stay on the ground, I actually reached the courtyard of Vigilant Citadel at about the same time Veritas did.

Though Sapphire hadn't burned enough Essence to get folks screaming "Kill the Solar!", she still looked awfully majestic as she stood motionless on the wall above our heads. Like White Gold Tower, Vigilant Citadel was a pretty impressive residence, a building that would have been ominous if it hadn't been so _sparkley. _The whole thing was made of spectacular silvery marble and huge sheets of purple glass, which made the fires that had been set both inside and outside of it look huge and terrifying.

Sapphire didn't move from her perch. It didn't even look like she was breathing. Obviously, she knew she couldn't change anything, but that didn't stop her from wanting to.

That I understood. It wasn't easy watching something so beautiful burn, and I couldn't imagine how much worse it would feel if the place had also been my home

There were a dozen of Shadowsbane's Dragonblooded street patrol still in the process of killing his servants and the constructs defending his home, and a handful of other people running in and out of the Citadel who were apparently looting everything they could carry. Sapphire slowly climbed down to stand with the rest of us standing in front of the wrought iron gate.

Where we waited, we were fairly well hidden. Of course, we couldn't stay that way.

"We're too late. This wouldn't be happening if Shadowsbane were still here. He's either dead or gone." Sapphire informed us, clenching her fists. She literally had to force herself to turn away from Vigilant Citadel, and the strain showed on her face. "Where to next?"

"Perfect." Veritas decided. "We might have had an easier time getting through to her if we'd had Shadowsbane on our side, but... at least we're not bringing Quill along this time."

"Then the question becomes, where is she?" Loren prompted.

"Your manse. Obviously!" Godchaser replied.

"But White Gold Tower's already been ransacked!" Sapphire pointed out. "You saw it, you were there!"

"Pffft! White Gold Tower's a little _workshop_! I said_ manse_!" Godchaser supplied. "Your _big _manse?" She clarified.

"Of course!" Veritas groaned. "I should have known!"

"But isn't your "big manse" days away from here?" I wondered. I'd been inside of the place before, and though I didn't like to admit I was scared in front of Veritas, I was in no hurry to visit his lair again. Among other things, it was loaded with all kinds of homicidal constructs and other nasty traps.

"It is in our time. It wasn't back in the First Age." Veritas admitted, looking up.

All of us did the same.

I could just barely make out a dark spot floating above the clouds. Sapphire gave a low whistle.

"I don't know about you boys, but I'm not jumping up there." She admitted.

Veritas smiled slightly. "I think we'll need another form of transportation."

"Can we steal that?" I suggested, pointing. There was a sleek black airship about three times the size of one of Veritas's warbirds sitting on the lawn only a stone's throw from the burning Citadel. The fire hadn't reached it yet and the hatch was open, as if someone had been preparing to take off.

There were some Dragonbloods gathered around, but none of them seemed to want to go inside.

"Steal_ that_? Are you kidding?" Sapphire scoffed. "That's no mere warbird! That's a_ Hidden Sun Class Swift Shrike_! A ship like that is probably rigged to _kill _anyone who tries to steal it!"

"Oh." I observed.

Sapphire laughed. She produced her hearthstone circlet from inside her clothing and pried the purple gem free. "Which is why it's a good thing I have _the key_!"

"We're going to need a distraction." Loren decided. "I think it's better if we avoid fighting as much as possible. We don't know what the effects will be if we kill anyone in the past." He admitted. "One of those looters could be your two-hundred and twenty-seventh great grandfather!"

I rolled my eyes and Sapphire groaned at his reference to Quill. Neither of us could deny that The Boss had a point.

"I've already explained, I don't think that we are actually in the past." Veritas interrupted. "This is... a parallel creation of some sort as I've already explained, a mobius strip of time. So it shouldn't matter who we kill, actually."

"You're way too smart to say something that stupid." I told him.

Veritas didn't say anything in response to that, but he gave me a look that made it obvious he was thinking. Even Godchaser got very quiet, and all of us considered what to do next. A whole lot of people seemed to be approaching from somewhere just down the hill... from the sound of things, another mob. We waited until they stormed right through the gates in front of us and swarmed the Vigilant Citadel, throwing rocks at the glass. At first, they didn't do any damage at all, but as the heat of the fire within the building continued to build, the glass did begin to crack.

A huge sheet of it came crashing to the ground and the revolutionaries cheered.

"That's how we get in!" Sapphire decided. "Usurp the tyrants!" She shouted, putting her fist in the air.

A whole bunch of the looters apparently thought she'd come up with a real good line and started shouting the same thing. I didn't realize until she tied on her shroud cloth that what she'd just probably just done was pull out some kind of nasty mind-control type Charm like I might have expected from Adamant Quill.

I was beginning to believe that Solars only ever came up with one kind of plan, which seemed to consist of them being mistaken for ordinary people just long enough to get into serious trouble.

Following the unwashed masses and shouting obscenities with the worst of them, we ran right out into the courtyard. I kept on Loren's heels and found myself really wishing that I still had my sword. If we looked suspicious, no one said anything, at least not until we separated from the main mob and started towards the airship.

"Hey, you! That thing's dangerous!" One of the Dragonblooded ordered, seizing Loren by the shoulder. "Stay back!" When he got a good look at the stranger he'd stopped, he pulled back like he'd been struck by a snake. I didn't have to guess why. According to Amira, Loren looked an awful lot like his previous incarnation, and there wasn't a Dragonblood in First Age Nexus who wouldn't recognize the ubiquitous "Faeslayer" on sight.

Loren took advantage of his moment of distraction, seized his wrist and threw the guy right into his buddies with a whole lot of force. "Go!" He ordered.

I didn't waste a heartbeat. Nobody in Creation gives an order like The Boss.

From inside the Swift Shrike, I watched Veritas and Loren dodging fists and daiklaves as all of the Dragonbloods went for them at once. Sapphire followed me inside, ran straight for the controls and the ship began to rumble.

For a minute, I wasn't sure if it was going to fly or explode.

To make matters worse, apparently someone outside had burnt just enough Essence to blow a hole right in our "looters" disguise. There was more incoherent shouting and I saw The Boss pick up one guy and toss him right out the hatch of the Swift Shrike, exactly like Viper usually removed drunks from Anathema's.

"The hatch won't close! Help me out, Roach!" Sapphire ordered.

I grabbed onto the thing and just sort of hung there. My whole weight wasn't enough to get it down.

"Out of the way!" Veritas ordered, blazing in. Godchaser was throwing off sparks like crazy.

"Oww! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" She shrieked in distress as he swept her off and laid her down flat on the floor. He invoked one of his Charms, put his hand right on her and the sparking immediately stopped.

The smell of smoke was a little worrying, however.

"Damnit, somebody get that hatch closed!" Sapphire cursed as two exploding shots came dangerously close to her controls. She reached for her own weapon and returned fire without even glancing over her shoulder, not killing the Dragonblood who'd been aiming at her but taking one of his weapons right out of his hand... and his other hand clean off.

I managed to get myself out of the way just as The Boss came barreling in. With both hands, he reached up and grabbed the hatch, pulling it closed like the gargantuan airship door didn't weigh anything at all. The metal made a pretty awful sound and there was still a gap big enough for somebody to fall through... but apparently he'd done enough to get us airborne.

I'd ridden in a warbird before, so I thought that I knew what to expect, but that had been with Veritas at the helm. I realized quickly that Sapphire's flying style was a lot like her personality – rough, wild, and way too fast. Which was a good thing, because as soon as we were up in the sky, more people started shooting at us.

The revolution had apparently succeeded in securing Nexus's outer walls, which meant that they had a whole lot of implosion bows and lightning ballistas at their disposal. The Swift Shrike was obviously designed to take a hit, but the force of some of the explosions still rattled my teeth and made me cling to the deck for dear life. Sapphire and Veritas had taken the only seats and Loren was standing and basically holding the hatch closed.

We swept up in a dizzying spiral and descended on Perfect's manse.

The factory cathedral had been impressive enough when I'd first laid eyes on it in our time, buried inside of a mountain and left to rot for over 1,500 years. When I could actually see the whole thing in its former glory, hovering hundreds of feet above Nexus and gleaming like a second sun, words wouldn't come to me.

The First Age was full of wonders, and I'd seen a lot of those in the past four days, but nothing nearly as impressive as the floating island below us. Three spiraling towers emerged from a mass of natural stone, iridescent green vines and white blossoming magnolias. They looked like they were made of solid orichalcum and had no visible windows or doors. I couldn't have imagined a more intimidating or effective fortress.

"Sun-in-Glory!" Sapphire swore. "Look at the size of this place! I didn't realize it was so huge! Veritas, how do we get in?"

"There! That's the hatch I fly my warbirds out of!" He decided, pointing at the largest tower. "Get us down there and I'll open it!"

Sapphire nodded, but from the way her knuckles were white on her controls, I gathered that getting in close enough to open a door was easier said than done. The winds were unruly at such a height, and though most of the weapons from the walls of Nexus were falling short of where we hovered, Perfect's manse had begun fighting us like we were intruders.

A black and gold swarm of Whirlagig Drones and larger constructs poured out of the dense jungle on the floating island and bolts of blue lightning danced off of the towers themselves. Every time one of them struck the underbelly of our ship, it drained all of the Essence out of Sapphire's controls. She was forced to pull out her hearthstone, jam it in again and try to restart the Swift Shrike three or four times.

She was already glowing _a whole lot _and we still weren't keeping steady.

Veritas leaned all the way out the hatch, focusing on the largest tower with a very scary impression on his face. Loren was holding onto him via Godchaser, who shrieked and clung tighter to her "Maker" as a hundred Drones fired at them simultanously.

Then another burst of lightning hit the Swift Strike.

All of the controls went black and Sapphire flew out of her chair as the front end of the ship exploded. All I could see was smoke and fire, and the dizzying speed of our freefall caused me to lose the breakfast that I didn't remember eating.

The Swift Shrike was going down, and the roof of Perfect's manse still looked a lot like a solid sheet of orichalcum.

"Godchaser, teleport!" Veritas ordered.

"Maker!" Godchaser protested. "It's not fixed! It's not fixed yet! You could die, Maker! You could die!"

"I _know_! Teleport now!" Veritas ordered.

In a burst of Essence, he was gone. I probably would have worried about him if my own demise hadn't seemed immanent, but that was when I lost my grip and went flying out the person-sized gap in the hatch myself.

I thought I was dead but somehow Sapphire caught my arm, and so I clung to her and prayed.

_You've got three of your Chosen here!_ I reminded the Unconquered Sun. _C'mon, give us a miracle!_

The ship exploded again and Sapphire suddenly wasn't holding onto anything herself, except for my wrist. Loren had seized her leg at the last possible moment and was trying to reel the both of us back into the ship, which was still going down like a lead brick.

But then I saw something on the roof of Perfect's manse, a burning golden figure in a white cloak that I would have mistaken for The Emissary if the orichalcum he was standing on hadn't been melting into a huge coiling snake of liquid metal. Whirlagig Drones were exploding everywhere and with a horrific crunch, we stopped falling.

Veritas had caught hold of the Swift Shrike with the torrent of orichalcum that he was shaping, but the absurdly hot magical metal was devouring our ship and he obviously couldn't sustain what he was doing for very long. Uttering a word of command, he used the orichalcum to draw the Shrike down into Perfect's manse like a it was a little paper boat tipping over the edge of a waterfall.

I wasn't sure if what he'd done involved Charms or Sorcery. What was pretty obvious to me was that we'd gotten exactly the kind of miracle I'd been praying for.

I don't know if I was conscious when we actually crashed into the manse, taking out both of Perfect's warbirds on our way down, but I came to my senses just quickly enough to realize that some kind of fire-extinguishing construct was spraying me with chemicals.

"Are we dead?" Sapphire coughed.

"I don't think so." I replied. I wanted to say 'no', but I wasn't exactly sure. The beating I'd just sustained had reminded me all too clearly that I'd nearly been dead a day ago, and that most of my ribs were still broken.

"That's enough." A very familiar voice ordered. At first I thought it was Loren, but then I realized that he was behind me, still crawling out from underneath the Swift Shrike.

The constructs immediately pulled away from us, and the clouds of chemicals and smoke slowly began to clear. I stared up in awe.

Liquid orichalcum was suspended in midair all around us. Torrents of smoke were billowing off of the surface of it and it looked like it was beginning to crystalize. As I realized what that probably meant, I hit the ground and covered my head.

The droplets all solidified at once and came crashing to the floor. More than a few big pieces of still-hot amorphous sheet metal actually did pound me, but after surviving the crash of the Swift Strike, I figured I'd survive.

It didn't take a genius to guess who'd kept all of us from being incinerated.

Her Caste Mark blazing, Perfect looked down on all of us. She was on the balcony twenty feet above our heads and obviously furious about the damage that we'd done to the roof of her impenetrable fortress. Essence glittered around her fingertips and for a minute I thought we'd actually reached the end of the line and were about to get incinerated by the person we'd come to see. But then Veritas hovered down to stand before the three of us. He removed Godchaser's mask from his face.

The first thing I noticed was that he was wearing the nasty exploding glove that he'd stole from Perfect on our first day down The Well.

"You again?" Perfect snarled. "Do you Sidereals have some kind of a deathwish?"

"We're not Sidereals!" I protested, not that she heard me.

"What is that thing?" Loren demanded. He looked at me like I had an answer for him, which I didn't.

"It's a Resonance Inducer." Veritas supplied. "It causes any being with Essence to start uncontrollably bleeding it."

"Eeee." Sapphire grimaced. "You're not going to hit Perfect with it, are you?" She whispered, elbowing him. "You do know that if we use Essence, our other selves can feel it. It stands to reason that if anything hurts them, it also hurts us."

"Yes, I know. But she's being completely irrational and we don't have the time for this!" He replied.

"I'm not a Sidereal, you crazy bitch!" Veritas shouted. He charged up the Resonance Inducer until it was glowing white hot and clapped it right down on his own arm. "I'm _you_!"

Perfect gasped in shock, and it quickly got very bright inside her cave. She and Veritas both collapsed simultaneously and started bleeding off torrents of Essence. The effect of the Resonance Inducer proved to be fairly short-lived, however, and after a few minutes of covering my eyes, I found that I could see again.

Both Veritas and Perfect were still glowing. They stared at one another in silence. Brilliant as she was, Perfect must have figured out fairly quickly why her device had reacted as it did. Despite how crazy our story sounded, Perfect nodded slowly, listening to Loren explain everything as Veritas tried to catch his breath and Godchaser gibbered on and on about how amazing her Maker had been up on the roof.

"That's when we found out you moved The Well." Sapphire finished. "But you didn't move it here?"

"Of course I didn't move it here!" Perfect scoffed. She looked more subdued than I'd imagined she was capable of appearing. "There are thousands of experiments in process here, some of which are very delicate! The last thing I need is more lunatics from some parallel Creation getting spit up into my manse every morning!"

"It's more than that, isn't it?" I guessed, noticing an ugly burn on her wrist, clearly fresh. She'd made some attempts to hide it with her forge-hand gauntlets, but when she wrung her hands, the gauntlets slipped slightly. "There's something wrong with The Well. What?"

"The protoscemaic vortex is bleeding off Wyld energy." Perfect admitted. "Uncontrollably, and at a rate where it could overtake a substantial part of Nexus"

"It's in Firewander!" Sapphire exclaimed. "You put it somewhere in The Firewander District!"

"How did you know that?" Perfect eyed her suspiciously.

"Now, Perfect. You know exactly why we're here and you know that we're not Sidereals. You have to help us. I need to know something before we go any further, something that I knew when I was you but I can't remember now. What is the Well? From our side, we see your world. And from your side, you see our world." Veritas paused. "But it's not a window, is it? And it's not the past."

"No, it's not." Perfect replied. "And I'm not really myself... that is to say, I'm not really _you_. I'm not even alive. None of us are. We're dreams of the First Age. Ghosts of Essence trapped in a mobius strip of time. You make us more complete, by being here. I knew for certain that when you shot me with my Resonance Inducer." Perfect sighed heavily.

"The Well was originally a reality engine that would allow us to experiment with creating entire worlds. But I underestimated the power of the protoscemaic vortex, and The Weeping Maiden's ability to work from inside her prison. I'm afraid that if she's removed from The Well now... it may explode. And it will do worse than destroy this world. It could tear a massive gaping hole in the fabric of the true Creation."

I absorbed everything she'd said very slowly.

"So where did you put the vortex?" Loren asked.

"Where do you think I put it? Something like that needs to be watched _constantly _by someone whose judgment is perfect!" She replied.

"But not you, Perfect?" Veritas prompted.

"I'm not perfect. I'm only a tool. A very, very good tool... but a tool nonetheless." Perfect smiled slightly.

That was when I understood.

"I know where The Well is!" I exclaimed. "It's in The Temple of The Unconquered Sun!"

Perfect didn't actually say that I was right, but I knew that I was. "You know, you remind me of someone I haven't seen in a very long time." She remarked.

"I hope it's someone you like." I replied, pointing at the destroyed roof and the melted slag of the three airships that we were standing in the middle of. "Because you two are terrifying_!_"

Obviously pleased with my description, both Perfect and Veritas gave me the exact same smirk.

"All right." Sapphire paused. "Now that we've come this far, we've got to get right back where we started. And those streets are a lot worse now then they were this morning." She admitted uneasily.

"It also doesn't help that you and Veritas have got your targets on." I added.

"Targets?" Perfect stared at me in disbelief. I feigned an innocent expression. From her reaction, I guessed that it wasn't convincing at all. She surveyed the mess that we'd made of her manse. "Well, I would suggest that you take one of my warbirds, but it appears that you've destroyed them both."

"I can teleport!" Godchaser volunteered. "My Maker fixed me!" She announced proudly.

"I don't think so, Godchaser. You shouldn't try to carry us all at once." Veritas didn't seem convinced.

"Why not?" Sapphire demanded. "Because we could end up in the river?"

"Because we could end up scattered into bits of Essence!" Veritas informed her.

Loren sighed heavily. He cleared some of the orichalcum scrap out of the way with his foot and started doing something I'd previously associated only with Veritas.

He was working sorcery!

Testing the wind with one finger, he gave a sharp whistle, like one of my Murqai cousins might if they were calling for a horse. A_ cloud _descended from the sky and hovered to a stop directly in front of him.

Both Veritas and Sapphire stared at the cloud in disbelief, but I couldn't tell if that was because they didn't know what it was or because they didn't know how to react to The Boss actually casting a spell. His Caste Mark flickered.

"This." Loren explained. "Is a Cirrus Skiff."

Sapphire and Veritas glanced to one another doubtfully.

"I bet neither of you have ever ridden on a cloud before." I smiled slightly, putting my arms around both of them. "Let me tell you something! It's _really_ fun!" It was the best Amira impression I could muster under the circumstances and clearly Loren recognized who I was attempting to imitate. He smiled slightly.

"I thought you _hated _these things?" Loren whispered as Sapphire warily hopped aboard his cloud.

Veritas followed her. Godchaser giggled, and Perfect smiled slightly as if she were watching a familiar play.

"If I tell them it's like getting rolled up in a carpet and beaten with a stick, they're going to waste time coming up with a better plan!" I informed him with a wink. "And right now, we've got to save Creation!"


	14. Chapter 14 - Form and Shadow

**Chapter 14 – ROACH**

Slightly singed and breathless, we landed in front of The Temple of The Unconquered Sun. Veritas and Sapphire were blazing even more brightly than before. While Loren directed his Cirrus Skiff, the two of them had fired everything they could at anyone who has shooting at us, taking out four ballista, a dozen implosion bows and even a warbird.

By the time we made it to our destination, the sun was beginning to sink low in the sky and the looting and rioting was even worse than it had been when we'd stolen Shadowsbane's Shrike. Still, all of the revolutionaries seemed to be giving The Temple of The Unconquered Sun an unusually wide berth. Loren dismissed his cloud and Veritas squinted.

"We've just stepped into some kind of spell." He remarked. "I don't think anyone on the streets can see us."

"Well, that's handy." Sapphire remarked.

"Not necessarily." Veritas shook his head heavily. "That means we're expected."

"Another Sidereal trap?" Loren snorted.

"Not exactly." A voice interrupted.

When I realized who'd spoken, I couldn't help but stare.

On the steps of The Temple stood a Solar. The word "man" didn't even occur to me as I saw him. He looked as out of place in Creation as one of the Incarnae might have, like a God come down from the Heavens. The Illuminated that my mother had described to me when I was a child had been similarly intimidating in my imagination, so beautiful that you couldn't look directly at them and so unbelievably powerful that they made you feel inconceivably small in their presence.

This Solar was like that. Shadowsbane had been impressive. Perfect had been terrifying.

The Faeslayer was _awe_-inspiring.

He was dressed in full orichalcum plate armor with a spectacular, radiant sun on his breastplate, a crown on his head and his daiklave resting comfortably over his shoulder, just as Loren always carried his weapon when he wasn't pretending not to be an Exalt.

The Faeslayer surveyed the four of us with a slight smile. Loren clearly recognized his previous incarnation, not that anyone could have failed to notice the similarity between the two of them. Although The Faeslayer was clearly older, they could have been twins. They looked more alike than most brothers did.

Sapphire jumped and Veritas winced as several floors of The Monolith Hotel suddenly exploded.

"A minor... insurrection." The Faeslayer remarked casually as another building across the street from us came crashing down. "You'll be safe here. I have everything under control." He informed us.

I didn't see anything 'minor' about what was going on and wondered a little about The Faeslayer's definition of "control", but I didn't try to correct him. I decided it was probably best if Loren did all of the talking, and clearly Sapphire and Veritas agreed with me.

"You think so." Loren paused. "You think that it's just a little purge, to get rid of some of the older Solars you know who've completely lost their wits. But it's more than that. _All of us _are cursed!" Loren explained. "And I don't think I need to tell you that there are forces which want us destroyed, permanently. For 1,500 years starting today, there aren't going to be any Solars. The trouble is, the world _isn't _better without Solars in it. It's just as dangerous as it has ever been and it's getting worse. And I know that because I've come from the future."

"Sort of." I interrupted, before I realized that maybe it was smarter for me not to say anything at all. "Well, we know this isn't really the past, it's... inside The Well of Udr." I finished.

That got The Faeslayer's attention. "How do you know about The Well of Udr? Who are you?" He demanded, obviously sensing something strange afoot.

"I think you know the answer to that." Loren replied. The Faeslayer looked surprised as their eyes met. Loren's caste mark began to glow, and as he expended that small amount of Essence, The Faeslayer's did the same. Just as Veritas had used the Resonance Inducer to hurt Perfect, anything that Loren did with Essence was obviously felt by The Faeslayer. The two of them stared at one another for a long while in silence, and then The Faeslayer smiled.

"So this is the end, is it?" He finished, sounding unbelievably calm. "Today is the day I die."

"How did you know?" Sapphire wondered.

"I saw it in the Well. But I didn't believe what I was seeing." The Faeslayer admitted.

"But now you know I'm telling the truth." Loren replied.

"I know." He nodded.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" I asked. It seemed like an important question.

"After as long as I've lived?" The Faeslayer scoffed. "To tell the truth, yes, I was afraid. I was afraid when I believed that this jade prison that the Sidereals have forged for us would prove to be truly inescapable. But now that I know it is not…" He paused. "I am resigned."

"But how? They're going to destroy all of this!" Loren gestured to the beautiful city, stretching as far as I could see.

"Then _you_ must bring it all back! Perfect and I built this city from _nothing,_from pure chaos! We fought monsters to the likes of which you cannot even imagine! Abhorrence of Life, The Weeping Maiden, She-Who-Lives-in-Her-Name! And yet you and your companions intuitively understand human nature in a way that we could never hope to. It may sound mad to say this, but the four of you have done more in the last five months than I have done in 1,500 years. Perhaps you will be the ones to break The Great Curse?" The Faeslayer smiled. "And when our world is finally restored, it will _never _fall like this again."

"We'll do our best. But there is one more thing you should know." Loren paused. "The Sidereals have Amira. And as soon as they get their hands on Perfect's protoscemaic vortex, they're probably going to kill her. We have to save her."

The Faeslayer nodded. His face was unbelievable, completely serene except for the smallest spark of fire in his eyes when Loren spoke Amira's name. From the way the two of them stared at one another, it was obvious that neither would be swayed from that singular purpose.

"So it's going to come down to a fight then, is it? You'll be needing armor." The Faeslayer announced. "And a daiklave."

The Faeslayer stepped forward slowly and took both of Loren's hands in his own. The two of them bowed their heads and I wished momentarily that I could have heard what passed between them, because it seemed like something epic, the kind of dramatic closing line that "Not-Yet-Dead" Eddie would have killed himself for.

For the first time in a long time, I actually heard Loren laugh. The Faeslayer passed him his daiklave and as Loren took the weapon, he also did something else I'd never seen him do. Essence flared all around him and he was suddenly dressed in a suit of full orichalcum plate, the same spectacular armor that The Faeslayer had been wearing only moments before.

Without his armor, The Faeslayer appeared surprisingly ordinary. He gave us a slight salute and turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Loren wondered uneasily.

"I've passed the torch to you. It's time for me to face my Fate." The Faeslayer replied without hesitation. "Now go make yours."

I watched The Faeslayer walk down the broad golden promenade until he disappeared somewhere near the horizon. Though I knew that the old Solar was going out to die, I almost expected him to just melt back into the light of the Unconquered Sun, form and shadow reunited.

"I like that guy." I informed Loren.

"So do I." He smiled slightly.

I would have given him a punch in the shoulder for a line like that, but I reminded myself that my buddy was wearing a full suit of orichalcum plate.

Sapphire slowly walked up the stairs of the temple. She gazed up at the main doors with her hands on her hips for a moment and then rolled up her sleeves, drawing both of her firewands. Veritas called for his lightning spear and not for the first time, I cursed at the fact that I still didn't have a damned weapon.

Of course, that wasn't going to stop me from going in too.

The doors creaked open as I pushed them and a horrific smell caused me to cover my nose and mouth. Sapphire cursed incoherently. The entry hall of the Temple was filled with mutilated bodies and pools of blood that were black with flies.

"Oh! Oh, how awful! Who did this?" Godchaser gasped.

Veritas said nothing. He studied the room with a critical eye and tightened his grip on his lightning spear.

"You don't think..." Sapphire began. She didn't actually propose that The Faeslayer might have been responsible... but that was only because she didn't get a chance.

"Maker!" Godchaser cried.

A black steel blade attached to a long chain struck the wall near Veritas's head, crumbling marble.

Sapphire fired a volley of Essence rounds into the shadows and Loren deftly parried a second chain as it came flying at him.

The Shoat of the Mire yelped as he seized hold of it and used it to pull her out of her hiding place. She responded by firing all of her other chains at once... and one of them almost gored me. Loren released the little Deathknight to dodge her whirling blades, but the damage had already been done. The rest of us had seen where she was hiding.

"You again!" Loren frowned. "What do you want this time?"

"Mother wants me to keep you busy." The Shoat replied. "And I see _you _are still alive." She observed, looking right at me. I didn't like that at all. Compared to my three Essence-bleeding super-friends, I should have been completely invisible.

The Shoat sighed heavily. "Mother is very upset about that, _Abd Al-Abadiyah. _Apparently you were quite rude to her."

"What did she just called you?" Sapphire wondered innocently.

"_Abadiyah_. It's my name. Did you honestly think my mother called me 'Cockroach'?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh, my mother called me worse!" She informed me. We stood at an arm's length from one another, watching The Shoat, who seemed to be waiting for Loren to make a move.

Or... no! She _knew_ that we weren't alone! She was only taunting us to buy time!

"Loren!" Amira shouted. She was standing about ten feet away, at the end of a corridor which split in two directions. She looked like she hadn't slept in days and her hands were shackled behind her back.

When she saw Loren she immediately tried to shape-change, obviously intending to fight her way free. The black manacles she wore flared with emerald Essence that raced through her veins like some kind of exotic venom. Blood dripped from her wrists as the manacles suddenly tightened and she cried out in pain.

"Don't, Loren!" Amira ordered, biting back tears. "They want you to come after me!"

I didn't have to ask who. Sick as it was, the scary artifact that Amira was bound with probably shouldn't have surprised any of us, considering that she was currently standing directly between The Green Lady and The Shoat's monstrous "Sister".

"They're working together? Heaven and the Underworld?" Veritas gasped. "Oh, Sun-in-Glory... this is _not _good_! _This is not good at all!_"_

"Well, I suppose it's nice to know that all of our enemies are on the same side." I replied.

Amira struggled as Sister loomed over her in a predatory fashion and her manacles tightened again. More of her blood stained the white marble floor.

"Amira!" Loren immediately dropped his guard and The Shoat almost took his head off with one of her chains. Still, Sapphire was faster than the Deathknight had anticipated. She threw her dagger and caught the chain in mid-strike, pinning it to the wall.

The Green Lady barked out an incoherent order to Sister, who took immediately took off running.

Loren hesitated.

"Don't worry about me, Loren!" Amira shouted. "Stop that Deathknight!"

As if taunting Loren to follow her, the Sidereal tightened her grip on Amira and began dragging her in the opposite direction.

Like a little lost sheep, Loren stood frozen at the end of the hall. His eyes darted back and forth and finally he bolted after Sister, as Amira had told him to.

"Loren!" Sapphire shouted. Obviously she'd sensed the same uncertainty lingering around him that I had, and it worried her too. "Damnit, if he breaks again, we're all dead! This can't get any worse!"

"Don't say that!" Veritas warned. "We haven't run into either Quill yet!"

"And I'm not finished with you!" The Shoat interrupted, firing her chains at both of them.

Veritas leapt four feet in the air. Godchaser kept him hovering for an extra minute and started throwing off sparks, not because she was broken but apparently because she'd discovered that doing so made her look absolutely terrifying. Sapphire took the opportunity to charge after the startled Deathknight, running up the walls and across the ceiling.

The two seemed to be evenly matched and I figured that even if she couldn't gut the little Deathknight, Sapphire could still hold her off long enough for Loren to reach catch Sister and find Perfect's protoscemaic vortex.

That is, if he hadn't stumbled into another trap already.

"I'm going after Amira!" Veritas informed me.

"Not without me you're not!" I shot back.

"All right, boys! I got this one!" Sapphire winked. She fired another shot at The Shoat.

I stayed right on Veritas's heels, not that there was anything else I could do. If any of the people The Shoat had slaughtered in the entry of the Temple had ever been armed at all, there was nothing left of their weapons. When the two of us came to the end of the corridor that The Green Lady had taken Amira down, the only thing that I'd found that I could conceivably use to defend myself was a broom.

Of course, when Veritas threw open the doors of the Temple courtyard, Himitsu immediately sheared my makeshift weapon in half.

"Oh come on! Seriously?" I demanded, glancing up in the direction of the sun. Not waiting for the Sidereal to come in for a second attack with his deadly fans, I pitched the two sections of my broom handle at Himitsu... and somehow managed conk him in the head _twice_.

He swore and stared at me in disbelief. I had to admit, the odds of pulling off something like that did seem fairly steep.

Amira seemed surprised to see the two of us coming to her rescue.

"Get back, Roach!" Veritas warned me.

"You're not fighting these two on your own!" I protested.

"I'm not going to have to." Veritas smiled slightly and made a gesture that I'd started to recognize as the first part of his melting metal Charm. The chains that the Sidereals had bound Amira with literally oozed off of her wrists.

The Green Lady gasped as Amira began to change, quicker than I'd ever seen any Lunar do such a thing before. Before Himitsu could recover his fans, the whole courtyard was overshadowed by the biggest, meanest looking wolf ever to set foot in Creation. Easily fifteen feet tall at the shoulder with a bristling mane of sharp moonsilver spines, Amira gave the Sidereals a toothy grin.

"Give me _one_ good reason not to eat you _right now_!" She snarled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Veritas begin shaping some sorcery.

I didn't waste another minute. Loren was still somewhere ahead of us, and I had a good guess as to where. I ran as fast as I could across the courtyard and up the stairs.

Throwing open the doors of the main sanctuary, I stared up in awe at Sapphire's "big guy". In the glittering First Age, the massive statue of The Unconquered Sun looked even more impressive than he had in the ruins that I'd seen. A massive explosion rocked the whole temple. Either Veritas had finished shaping his spell or Quill had shown up. I was hoping for the former, but betting on the latter.

In the center of the sanctuary, Loren stood two feet away from Sister, who looked even more like a hag than usual. Both of them were bleeding Essence. Loren was surrounded in a very impressive corona of gold and Sister was literally _bleeding_. The flowers and fresh fruit which had been left at the foot of the God wilted and rotted when she passed near them. I grimaced as I realized that Loren had suffered some sort of black necromantic burn to his arm.

He deftly parried Sister's flurry of attacks, but then his wound got the better of him and he stumbled, losing his daiklave.

"Loren!" I shouted before I realized that it wasn't a very good idea to draw attention to myself. Sister hammered Loren with her mace. He caught her blow on his right forearm and for a minute I thought that Sister had made a real mistake until the orichalcum plate armor Loren was wearing suddenly began to crack. He staggered, and she pounded him again – square on the back.

Loren collapsed. There was so much blood I thought that he was already dead… but if there was a chance in all Creation that I could save him, I was going to take it.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Loren's daiklave. It was about ten feet away from him, close enough that I could make a run for it while Sister's back was turned. But even if I did get to the thing, I knew there was no way that I could wield it. The way Loren swung the blade around, made it look like it weighed nothing… but orichalcum is impossibly heavy from an un-Exalted perspective.

And so I did the only thing I could do. I prayed, and made a run for it anyway.

_C__'__mon,__do__something!_ I begged the Unconquered Sun. _We're in your temple, damnit!_

I didn't wait for a response. As I'd told Himitsu, I made my own Fate. And I'd learned from experience that the God helped those who helped themselves. Something was going to happen, I was sure of it! All I had to do was get into the right place to make it all work out.

I ran and slid across the marble floor, my fingertips coming into contact with the hilt of Loren's daiklave just as the Deathknight looked up. She was on me in no more than a heartbeat. I couldn't even follow her movement with my eyes and didn't even know where she was about to strike from until her mace was suddenly frozen about six inches from my head.

My heart skipped a beat.

Against all odds, I'd actually stopped her! Somehow, I was holding Loren's asinine orichalcum blade as if it were my own familiar weapon. The force of the Deathknight's blow had dropped me to my knees but my arm remained steady in one of the first guards that Loren had taught me when I became his student.

The Deathknight faltered. She stared at me in horror and I took advantage of the opening that presented itself, running her through with one swift motion. She collapsed in a pool of black blood - _dead_, it seemed… and hopefully permanently.

"Heh. Thanks." I glanced up at the statue of the Unconquered Sun, still beaming down on us. As odd as it seemed in the temple of a God you were supposed to take seriously, I felt that the craftsman who'd carved that goofy smile was onto something. "It's okay if you don't say 'you're welcome'." I said aloud. "I know you never listen!"

I slowly walked towards Loren, still lugging his sword. Whatever force of will had made it light enough for me to wield obviously wasn't permanent, but I could still carry it without any trouble. Strangely enough, as I made my way up the altar stairs, I began to feel _better_. Not just healed from my wounds, but better than I'd ever felt before in my life.

"_I __never __listen_?" A voice laughed. It was rich and warm and distinctly familiar to me, though the time I remembered it from seemed very long ago. "_Do __you __have __any __idea __how __long __I__'__ve __been __trying __to __reach __you?__"_

I looked up. What had been a statue only moments ago was alive, a huge, imposing four-armed man dressed in golden armor. A circlet of light that looked like a crown surrounded his head. As impossible as it seemed… I was actually _standing_ in the presence of The Unconquered Sun himself!

I should have gotten on my knees right away, but I didn't. I stood using Loren's daiklave like a cane and stared up, squinting.

"Hi." I said. No other words would come to me.

The Unconquered Sun smiled, a good-natured, warm and fuzzy sort of expression on his face. When he looked at me, I felt like I'd done something unexpected and dangerous that was going to earn me a mild scolding followed by a hug.

"That's all you can say? Oh come now! We know each other very well, Roach! You talk to me all the time!" The Unconquered Sun laughed. "What are you still afraid of? All this time you've matching pace with some of my very best Chosen, not to mention one of Luna's favorites! Did it ever occur to you that I did not come to your aid because you did not _need_ my help?" He reached down and actually put his huge hand on my shoulder. In a ripple of light, his whole body condensed. He still looked the same, but he was only a little taller than an ordinary man.

Not that _anyone _could have mistaken The Unconquered Sun for an ordinary man. If I'd thought The Faeslayer was godlike when I met him, it was only because I didn't have any comprehension of just how impressive a _genuine_ God could be. Part of me had always believed, of course. But believing and actually _seeing_ were two very different things.

The Unconquered Sun tousled my hair. "If only you could see yourself as I see you, Abadiyah! Resilient, like your namesake. Stubborn as a bull. But with the _heart_ of _gold!_"

He paused. "There are difficult times ahead. Your whole life has been hard, I'll grant you that… but it's going to get even harder." I couldn't bring myself to say anything in response. I was still trying to reconcile the fact that the Unconquered Sun had actually _touched __me_ and messed up my hair when he did something even more unexpected.

He reached out and very definitively put his thumb right between my eyes. It must have looked strange. The way it felt was even stranger.

"You do understand, of course, that I'm going to expect more from you now!" He informed me.

I was more afraid in that moment than I'd ever been in my life. From Loren, Veritas and Sapphire I had heard that Exaltation was something they had never even imagined, something that they'd fallen into without really understanding what was going to be expected of them.

But I knew. I'd seen firsthand how troubled and complex their lives were, how they lived torn between the past and the future that they were forging, day by day. They were terrifying and awe-inspiring, so much so that I'd begun to understand why no one could decide whether they were demons or Gods. But I knew the truth. I knew that they were simply _good __people_ given powers beyond imagination and charged with nothing less than saving Creation _every single day_.

Actually being able to comprehend such an enormous responsibility gave me a headache that I suspected was never going to go away.

"I _can__'__t_." I whispered.

"You _can._" The Unconquered Sun replied. "And you _will_."

Light filled the temple, exploding outward in all directions from The Unconquered Sun. When I finally dared open my eyes again, the statue was back in its place and the god was gone. For the briefest of moments, I thought I'd hallucinated everything… but then I saw my own reflection in the marble floor.

More times than I wanted to admit, I'd considered what I would say if I _knew _that The Unconquered Sun was actually listening to me. I'd toyed with what I would do if I could borrow the smallest fraction of Loren's strength, Veritas's brains, or Sapphire's agility. When I'd first sensed my friends using Essence in the attic room of The Caterpillar, I'd thought that I understood what it felt like to _be_ one of them.

I'd had_ no idea!_

After a few moments, I took a deep breath.

Let me tell you, they call it "The Second Breath" for a reason. It _is_ like being born again.

That's when I remembered Loren. I ran over to him and tried to gauge where he was wounded, and if I should even try to move him. "Loren? C'mon now, don't be dead!"

Loren coughed. He was obviously weak from the beating he'd taken, but he was already sitting up and that was a good thing.

"Roach?" He blinked a few times. Obviously there was too much sweat and blood in his eyes for him to see. The first thing his gaze came to rest on was his daiklave, which I still carried. "My daiklave?"

"Don't worry, I got it." I replied. "I got Sister too."

He only shook his head, seeming to remember parts of what had happened… and then saw Sister's corpse lying some feet away.

"How…" He trailed off into silence as he looked up and actually _saw_ me.

I scratched my head and tried to fix my hair a little, but it insisted on sticking straight up, as if I'd been struck by lightning. After what the Unconquered Sun had done to me, I kinda expected that it was never going to lie completely flat ever again.

Of course, Loren wasn't looking at my hair.

He immediately leapt to his feet and wrapped me in a big, rough bear hug. Though I was glad to see that my buddy wasn't dead or dying, being hugged by someone dressed in orichalcum plate who _really _doesn't know his own strength isn't so great when you're covered in cuts and bruises.

"Um… we're both still bleeding, ok?" I winced, kinda pulling away from him a little.

The two of us slowly sat down on the stairs, side by side.

Loren still didn't say anything, but he had the biggest, stupidest grin I'd ever seen stuck on his face. He looked like a kid on Calibration, like he was staring at the most unbelievable and fabulous thing he'd ever seen.

"Stop staring at me! You're freaking me out!" I scolded him.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" He laughed. "I don't know what to say! You..."

The words obviously wouldn't come to him, but they all came to me.

_Chosen. Exalted. Solar._

I didn't finish his sentence. I just smiled right back at Loren, probably looking as dopey as he did. "Right now, I have _a terrible _headache!" I informed him. Was that something I'd always said? It seemed like it was. "Also, I'm sure some of my ribs are broken."

"Ouch. Probably shouldn't have hugged you then." He winced.

"I'll heal." I shrugged. When I considered my injuries, a strange sounding word in Old Realm stuck in my head. I realized slowly that it was part of a Charm. Something else I'd always known? Seeing me staring off into space, Loren punched me hard in the shoulder.

"You will. Quickly too. Us _Solars _are good at that sort of thing!" He teased.

"Ow!" I protested.

"You do know what this means, don't you?" Loren pressed.

"You're going to stop harassing me about Viper?" I suggested hopefully.

"Training!" He beamed.

"Oh no!" I laughed. It hurt a little, but the pain was already beginning to subside. What I'd thought was a mess of cracked ribs was maybe only a few good bruises. That was a relief!

"Oh yes! You've got _a __lot _to learn and I'd love to have someone to practice with!" Loren declared. "Someone who doesn't _cheat_ and change shape and…"

"Try to take all of your clothes off?" I suggested, elbowing him in the side of the head where his armor couldn't protect him.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"_Revenge!_" I smirked.

That was when Amira arrived.

"Loren!" Amira shouted. She was still wearing her _very _intimidating war form, but when she saw no signs of a struggle, she resumed her usual appearance. Amira gingerly stepped over Sister's dusty corpse and searched the room warily. "Did I miss something?" She wondered.

"Nothing important." I laughed, enjoying the absolutely dumbfounded expression on her face as she saw Loren and myself sitting in the Unconquered Sun's shadow.

More footsteps thundered down the hall. It was Veritas, followed by Sapphire. They didn't actually see what had happened, because the minute they came blazing in, so did Quill. He was dressed in most of his white "Emissary" attire but there was no telling what he'd done with his mask and his cloak was torn to shreds.

We were all on him right away.

I put Loren's daiklave right in his face, but Quill didn't seem to notice me. Of course, that might have been because his eyes were already focused on Sapphire who had one of her firewands pressed up against the back of his head... or Godchaser, who'd disentangled herself from her Maker and was currently sparking furiously and spitting out a slew of Old Realm curses.

Quill held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you all! I promise, I can explain everything!"

"He's telling the truth." Loren informed us.

Quill grimaced as he pushed away Veritas's lightning spear.

"You'd _better_ explain_!_" Veritas informed him.

"And if we do decide_ not _to kill you, that does _not_ mean you're forgiven!" I added.

That was when both Sapphire and Veritas realized that if Loren was standing ten feet away, it was somebody else who had his daiklave pointed at Quill.

"Roach?" Sapphire gasped. "You... _target_?"

I rolled my eyes and wrinkled my nose. Obviously, I couldn't actually _see _my Caste Mark, but I could feel it burning still. Itwasn't an uncomfortable thing, but it was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"You don't think it's funny any more?" Veritas observed with a smirk.

"It was funnier when I didn't have one on _my_ head!" I informed him.

Quill grinned like a madman. Though I still didn't trust him any further than I could throw him, I figured it was worth hearing him out. There were a lot of things that still didn't add up, and if he'd known about The Great Curse before any of us, that would explain why he'd felt compelled to take out Loren. I'd survived getting shot with the lightning spear myself, and as Veritas had professed when Loren and I first met him, taking out a Dawn Caste was no mean feat. Even if Quill had intended to kill Loren, he probably would have needed to shoot him twice... with a much more powerful weapon.

Despite the fact that the sun was setting, the five of us together made The Temple as bright as midday. And it occurred to me that I was witnessing _exactly _what The Unconquered Sun must have wanted all along.

"You _knew _that this was going to happen?" I turned to Quill. "You knew from the beginning!"

"Fate is... rather predictable." Quill informed me. "At least it seems that way to me. I sometimes think that I can understand inherently how it works. The rest of you always used to say that I should have been a Sidereal."

"And that is _exactly_ why we all hate you, do you understand?" Veritas demanded. But when he glanced in my direction, I saw that he couldn't find anything else to say. Regardless of whether he wanted to forgive Quill or not, it's somewhat difficult to hold a grudge against someone who's just successfully manipulated you into saving the world in a way you never would have expected.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

_You did good. _I told the Unconquered Sun.

He didn't say anything... but that was all right by me. I knew he was listening.

"So what now?" Amira asked.

Loren sighed heavily and went up to the altar. He put his hands on it as he did so, the marble slab split open, revealing the heart of The Well. The device looked even stranger and more malevolent than it had when I'd first laid eyes on the it, its heart pulsing with the unstable power of the protoscemaic vortex.

"Now we end this." Loren replied, reaching for the vortex.

"No!" Quill shouted. His face was suddenly contorted into a mask of fear.

Loren didn't seem to hear him at all. He seized the ball of writhing Wyld energy with one hand and wretched it free. It flickered for a moment in his grasp and then its ever-shifting surface faded to black. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. We thought that we were saved.

But then reality exploded.


	15. Chapter 15 - The Weeping Maiden's Gift

CHAPTER 15 – The Weeping Maiden's Gift

When I set my hand upon the Vortex, I knew I'd made a mistake. I distinctly heard the sound of manic fae laughter which sent chills racing down my spine. Whatever was inside the iridescent shell was not only powerful, it was undoubtedly sentient.

But even if it was capable of understanding that I'd unwittingly set it free, it didn't bother to explain itself. It simply rippled away from me and into Elsewhere, still giggling at my ineptitude.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the room with The Well. White Gold Tower was in ruins, which led me to believe that I'd been transported back to the present. Everyone should have been there, but for some reason I was standing alone.

Or at least I thought I was alone.

Like a figure from one of my dreams of The First Age, The Emissary of Nexus slipped out of the shadows. He motioned for me to give him the Vortex, which sat in my hand like a lead weight – cold and lifeless.

I didn't resist. Something just told me that I should hand it to him, and so I did. Once the vortex was in his hands, he dropped the hood of his cloak and slowly took off his mask.

"Quill?" I blinked in surprise. Perhaps I wasn't as surprised as I could have been, but nevertheless… "You're The Emissary?" As I spoke those words, I realized that I'd already known the answer to my question. Of course, meddling with the fundamental fabric of reality will give you a headache like nothing else in all Creation – and make you doubt a lot of things, least of all what you've dreamt up and what has actually happened.

Quill nodded. "You knew that already. You always knew. From the moment you arrived in Nexus… I knew that we'd come to where we now stand. When I arrived at The Caterpillar… well, I obviously recognized myself. I confided in him, and together we determined what had to be done."

"Where is everyone?" I demanded.

"That's the complicated part. When you took the Vortex out of Perfect's reality engine, you released all of the energy that it held. Wyld energy, that is. But the Wyld isn't inherently destructive. It also _creates_." Quill explained. "And you probably already knew this, but this little black rock was given to Perfect at the same time that the Unconquered Sun gave you your daiklave. A souvenir of the Primordial War, as it were." He paused. "Have you ever been to a hunting lodge with horns and stuffed heads all over the walls?"

I nodded, though I'd never really liked that manner of décor. Then I realized what Quill was dancing around. "That thing had part of a Primordial inside it?" I stared at him in disbelief.

Belatedly, I realized that I had already known that as well. What was wrong with my memory? All I could think was that I had a _terrible headache_, as my Circlemate might say.

But what was her name? His name? Did it matter which it was?

"Primordials have more than one soul. And each of those souls is capable of acting independently, as if it were a complete being itself. You already know that the Loom of Fate was constructed out of a Primordial. As was the entirety of Malfeas." Quill casually rolled the dead Vortex over in his palm. "This little trinket formerly held one of the souls of a Primordial that you might know as The Weeping Maiden. She was _very _pleased that it was you who freed her. Or at least that's how Himitsu explained it."

"Himitsu?" I had only met the Sidereal briefly, but the fact that Veritas, Rhapsody and Clever Devil all seemed to hate him made me very suspicious of his intentions.

I also seemed to remember that he'd tried to kill me at least once.

"He's my pet Sidereal." Quill replied.

"Your _pet_?" I echoed incredulously.

"Oh, I'm sure Himitsu thinks the situation is completely reversed." Quill informed me.

"So it was you helping The Green Lady? You were behind all of this?" I demanded.

"A necessary deception. I knew you would never agree to help free The Weeping Maiden." Quill replied.

"The Weeping Maiden is a monster." I reminded him.

"That actually depends on your definition of monster." Quill shrugged.

"You know what I mean." I scowled.

Quill sighed melodramatically. "You're not looking at the bigger picture." He informed me. "The Well is destroyed, one of the Dowager's henchmen is dead, The Green Lady is on her way back to Yu-Shan for an audit that she _won't _walk away from... and The Weeping Maiden left all of us a nice little parting gift." Quill paused. "Put simply, she gave Perfect's reality engine enough power to restore Nexus to normality, to the condition it was in before the Wyld started consuming Firewander. The trouble is, _you_ were the one who took the Vortex. And because of the memories that you have, the reality engine couldn't decide if you were part of the world inside The Well... or part of the real Creation."

"What?" I felt a cold, sick pull in the pit of my stomach.

"It ultimately decided that you weren't real, and terraformed Nexus without any evidence of your existence. Naturally, Sidereals were sent in to modify the memories of anyone who might have asked where you went. Which means right now, very few people know that _you_ exist. A Solar's fondest wish." Quill replied.

"How do _you_ know?" I demanded.

"As a sorcerer of the Adamant Circle, I'm rather resilient to... unnatural mental influence." Quill smirked. "And also, I believe I've mentioned that I have a pet Sidereal!" He added.

"You knew all of this from the beginning? I'm never going to believe anything you say again." I remarked.

"That's probably wise." Quill replied.

"You're not sorry?" I demanded.

"For deceiving you? Please! I'm deceiving you even now, Faeslayer. You've no proof at all that I'm really fifteen-hundred years old. You've no way of knowing how I survived the Usurpation, if I did at all. I might have manufactured the earthquakes caused by The Well and purposefully helped to spread the Wyld outside of Firewander solely so that you would free The Weeping Maiden."

I shot him a black look and he bowed dramatically.

"All you really know is that I'm quite a bit more powerful than you... and for now, I'm on your side." Quill finished.

"I understand that, but I'm not going to forgive you for risking so many lives. What have you done with Amira?" I demanded.

"Nothing! Right now, Amira doesn't even remember meeting you, Loren." Quill shook his head. "That's why I wanted to get my hands on the Vortex first. My Mate has been trying to _kill_ me for five hundred years. And I don't really have any _friends_… well, besides Sapphire and dear Dead Eddie. I would have been glad not to be remembered. I wanted you to be able to keep the life you had. I'm sorry that it didn't work out that way."

"I don't believe you." There was nothing else I could say.

But Quill looked so serious, and the longer he stared at me, the more I felt my resolve faltering.

He'd really done it! He'd really done everything that he claimed, and I had played right into his hands! I'd put Creation in more danger than ever before, loosening one of the very monsters on the world that my previous incarnation had been created to exterminate. Worst of all, I'd lost all of my friends and family, everyone I had ever known or loved!

I collapsed to my knees.

"Oh, stop it! No one's _dead_! Besides, memory is a funny thing and even the best alterations don't always stick! Just ask Clever Devil about that!" He smirked. "Believe me, the pattern spiders are working on unraveling this big, ugly mess right now. They'll put things right eventually. It shouldn't take them more than a hundred years." Quill sighed heavily.

"A _hundred_ years?" I protested.

"That's _fast _for Yu Shan! You have no idea what a mess that city is! Next Calibration I'll have to take you there. Look at it this way, Faeslayer. You may have temporarily escaped _Fate_, but you are _still_ a Solar and _nothing_ you do will go unnoticed! Some bureaucrats will have to eat their hats on this one, but everyone upstairs will be working overtime to get you back into the Loom where you belong. I… should warn you, you'll probably have a Sidereal from Oversight permanently assigned to watch you now. It's not so bad, really." He smirked. "They can be very useful when they think they're winning."

I didn't ask what he meant by that. It was fairly obvious that Quill considered everything in the Creation to be one great big game.

"Oh Gods, what have I done?" I buried my head in my hands.

"Ah. I was hoping you'd ask that! Let me show you!" Bowing dramatically in my direction, Quill opened the double doors in front of us.

I stared. From the looks of things, we were still in the First Age. On the streets below, people stood frozen in place, unable to recognize the city that they thought they knew. The Whispering Serpent zipped past on its gleaming track.

"We're still inside The Well? In the past?" I wondered uneasily.

"No, we're back in Creation – and what you are looking at is _the future_." Quill replied. "I tried to explain to you before. The Weeping Maiden was on the fence during the Primordial War, and though she chose to return to the Wyld, for some time it looked like she was going to side with Autochthon and Gaia. You and Perfect ended up trading blows with her in the end, but The Weeping Maiden wasn't always your enemy! If things had gone differently, we might have spoken her name in the same breath as Luna's. Primordials are not inherently evil, Faeslayer." He explained. "With The Weeping Maiden's help, Perfect's reality engine tried to restore what it _thought _was normality here in Nexus. Since you were holding onto the Vortex, it restored everything to the state which _you_ remembered. And of course, it could only have been you, with all of your memories! You rebuilt Old Nexus in its entirety, with a few of the better features of the present day. Three Pearl's Teahouse, that damnable fae bakery and of course… _Anathema's_." Quill laughed.

"We terraformed this entire city out of pure Wyld without harming a single soul. Of course, a great many people are still confused right now, but the Sidereals are working on convincing them that things are just as they've ever been. You should know that Heaven has absolutely _lost it. _Apparently the Loom of Fate was wise to this whole mess and somehow concealed all of the threads that it was weaving together until it was too late for anyone to intervene. That's the trouble with Primordials, you understand. Long term plans._" _He smirked mischievously.

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're telling me that we just restored a First Age city to Creation... by accident?"

"Not entirely by accident." Quill replied smugly. "I'd rather hoped that something like this might happen. Of course, it's not the whole world that we've changed – not yet! The Usurpation still occurred and throughout Creation, the Dragonblooded still rule. But what's just happened here will not go unnoticed. Chrysalis will take this as a call to action. Our operatives from every corner of the Realm will be returning, and you'll have an army. The time is coming to take back what is rightfully ours."

"You mean take down the Realm?" I whispered, a little afraid by the scale of what Quill was proposing. Then again, from the perspective of a Solar his age, there probably weren't a lot of things that seemed impossible.

"More than that. A new Deliberative, just as your previous incarnation proposed. We know that there are problems that we Solars have caused for ourselves and we're going to get to the root of them, just as we did with the Well. I'm going to start calling in every favor I'm owed to prevent us from being crushed outright. I'll be your Emissary to Yu Shan, the Underworld, the deepest reaches of the Wyld! And I will be depending on you, Loren. As you already know, there are more than a few Solars and Lunars already in this city. The problem is, they don't trust me and frankly, I don't blame them for that. If I were in your boots, I wouldn't trust me either. But they do trust _you – and _I think that's a start. Now what do you say? Are you ready to take the reins from me? I'm giving you Nexus, Faeslayer. If you want your city back, it's yours!"

"I can't!" I argued. But then I considered. It was no small offer that Quill had made me. If anyone besides The Emissary had promised to hand over control of Nexus, I would have thought they were completely mad. But Quill _was _the city's de-facto ruler. If I stepped into his position and became The Emissary myself... there wasn't much I couldn't do.

There is an old saying which warns of the corruptive nature of power, and it came to my mind then.

Of course, I was also well-aware that Solars had earned the sobriquet "Lawgivers" for a reason. I remembered quite clearly the last thing my previous incarnation had said to me before he disappeared into the sunset.

_Be the change you wish to see_.

He was right, and so was Quill... but I wasn't about to tell him so.

"I'm not agreeing to _anything_ before I talk to Amira!" I informed him.

"I thought you might feel that way." Quill rolled his eyes. "That's why I took the liberty of finding her and… filling her in."

"Amira?" I whispered hesitantly, sensing a familiar presence just behind me. She looked just as she did at the river when we'd first met, wild and savage… and at the same time, so very beautiful.

Without saying a word, she collapsed into my arms and sobbed until her face was red with tears.

"Veritas, Emerald Viper and Sapphire are waiting for you downstairs. They're all a little confused right now, but give them time." Quill explained.

"What about Roach?" I asked.

"I can't say where he is. I contacted everyone else through The Sun-King Seneshals, and I've got a friend of mine in The Forbidding Manse of Ivy doing a little reconnaissance, but so far as I know - in this new present your friend still serves the Realm."

"You mean he didn't…"

"Exalt? No, and that's very curious. I can't imagine even The Weeping Maiden undoing the work of the Unconquered Sun without expecting some kind of... retaliation. To be honest, I'm not sure what kind of life he's led without you erased from it. And being a mortal, his thread is somewhat… less significant than your own. He'll probably be dead by the time anyone unravels it. It would be best not to get your hopes up." Quill replied.

"Quill?" I sighed heavily.

"Yes?"

"Run your own city." I replied. "I'm going to find Roach."

"You'll change your mind!" He informed me, turning on one heel and skipping away.

One year later...

"Lord Faeslayer!"

"What is it now?" I sighed heavily. There was a soldier standing just inside of my tent. I didn't recognize him, but I suspected that he was a new recruit from the way that he stared at me, not daring to come any closer.

I was in the middle of shaping some sorcery and knew full well how I probably looked from a mortal perspective. I continued what I was doing without turning to face him. Veritas had been right about spell-casting… it was ruthless, and the Sapphire Circle that I was now beginning was far less forgiving than the Emerald Circle I'd already mastered.

Veritas was a quick study and had already begun studying Adamant Circle sorcery himself under Quill's erratic and often useless "tutelage", despite having Exalted five years _after_me. He laughed at most of my failures… at least until I invited him to join my daily martial arts practice – particularly since I'd begun studying under my new Sidereal "keeper", Whisper. Although Veritas was a master of Snake Style himself and quite skilled in his own right, he was more inclined towards tinkering and the occult, just as I was more inclined to run my blade through something first and attempt to unravel its inner nature later.

"We've captured a spy, sir." My soldier announced.

"A spy?" The spell I had been shaping for two days fizzled in my hands but thankfully didn't explode in my face. I sighed in defeat, knowing I would have to start over from the beginning. "All right, bring him in." I sat down at my desk and poured myself some wine. Quill had brought it back from Yu Shan on his last trip and it was exceptionally good, even for a celestial vintage.

"Get your hands off of me!" A familiar voice snarled.

I almost spilled my cup when I saw the "spy" that my soldiers had captured. There were a few new scars and a little more wear on his face… but there was no doubt in my mind that the man standing before me in scuffed-up black lamellar was Roach.

He didn't recognize me, of course… not that I'd expected him to. Even if we _had_ lived our lives together in an altered timeline, everything that had led up to the destruction of The Well had changed me. Not even my father would have recognized me as Cathak Loren, and it was utterly impossible to mistake my bearing or mannerisms for those of a Dragonblooded. I'd stopped trying to emulate my old masters. Though I still remembered the lessons they had taught me, the world that I had been born into was very different from the one that I now lived in.

Since I'd been working sorcery for the past few days, I wasn't dressed in my usual armor… but the superheavy orichalcum plate that I'd brought back with me from the First Age was displayed in a fairly conspicuous location along with my daiklave. That, and I'd been using a fair amount of Essence… not enough to make me burn, but enough that my Caste Mark was obvious.

"Uhoh." Roach stared.

"Sit down. Let's have a civil talk, shall we?" I gestured to the chair across from me and he quietly obeyed, glancing over his shoulder to my soldiers who smiled and waved at him before darting back to their posts. Some of my men simply couldn't resist the opportunity to bring me "prisoners", even though they knew full well that I seldom personally interrogated anyone. It amused them to see how I "struck terror" into the hearts of those who didn't actually know me well. The kind of people who flocked to the banner of a known Anathema weren't always the most savory sorts, but I was working on improving their behavior. "I just want to ask you some questions."

"You're…" Roach stammered.

"Anathema, demon, damned, Forsaken?" I gestured to my caste mark. "I'll make this easy for you. The word you're looking for if you're _anywhere_in lands of the New Deliberative is _Solar_. And regardless of what you've been told, we don't eat babies or burn down villages. Now are you afraid of me, soldier?"

"No." Roach replied stiffly.

"Well, that's a lie." I didn't need a Charm to make that judgment, but Roach still bristled, perhaps fearing that I'd pulled the information somehow from his mind. "Understand that you _will_ tell me the truth whether you intend to or not. In this matter you do not have a choice."

"You can't force me to talk! And I'm not afraid of you!" He protested.

"Actually, I _can_. Force you to talk, that is." I sighed. "But if I do, I'm going to start glowing and you're not going to like me when I'm glowing."

Of course, that was when Amira heard the news and swooped in, giddy and giggling. She pounced on the back of Roach's chair and brushed his nose with her tail. "Oh, you done it now! He's gonna use a Charm on you!" Roach looked about ready to wet himself at the sight of her toothy grin.

"Damnit Amira!" I sighed, noticing that with her arrival we had gathered an audience of at least a dozen more soldiers. It hadn't been my intention to terrify Roach out of his wits, but if Amira and I were being watched, then we were compelled to pretend that he was just an ordinary prisoner. "You're ruining my interrogation!"

"You know, if I were in charge of this it'd be going a whole lot quicker." She teased.

"You _ate_ the last prisoner I gave you to interrogate!" I protested. Of course, she'd done no such thing, but most everyone in the realm believed that Lunars were frenzied killing machines, so the ruse I'd concocted had its desired result. Roach looked even paler than before. My soldiers all laughed and decided to go about their business, which was precisely what I'd hoped that they would do.

Amira smirked. "So?"

"No, no! Stop! Please!" Roach begged. "I'll tell you everything I know."

Amira blinked. "Seriously?"

"That was quick." I observed.

"I know! I can't believe he actually fell for it." Amira rolled her eyes.

"Well… you know he doesn't remember us." I whispered. "And the last I heard from Quill, the pattern spiders are _still_ untangling that knot we made."

Roach glanced at me skeptically. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Oh, nothing." Amira smirked. "We were just running the ol' "Nice Solar, Mean Lunar" bit. It's practically the oldest trick in the book."

"And Amira ought to know, because she _wrote_the book." I added.

"Are you calling me old?" Amira frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "You're gonna get it!" She warned in a tone that left nothing to the imagination.

"So you're not going to eat me?" Roach observed, relaxing slightly.

Amira grimaced. "Heck no, human is yucky!"

"And you're not going to use Charms on me either?" He pressed.

"Not if I don't have to. Soldier, you've been lied to. We're not the monsters that the Immaculate Order makes us out to be." I sighed, well aware that Amira was baring her fangs in Roach's general direction. "Not… all of us, anyway."

I stood up and offered Roach my hand. At first he hesitated to take it.

"As you can see, I'm Dawn Caste… which means I won't bind you to do anything on a simple handshake. That's The Emissary you've been warned about, and it would be best if you avoid him entirely." Roach nodded, slowly reaching to shake my hand. For the briefest of moments, there was something I swore was recognition in his eyes. "They call me Alexander Faeslayer. This devious, nosy bitch is Amira Heartsblood, my Mate. What's your name?"

Roach hesitated again and then smiled, looking embarrassed. However different his life might have been, I knew at once that he _was_my old friend. "Um… Well, most people call me Roach. Cause they think I don't wash enough. And cause I'm hard to kill. Like a cockroach."

"You and me both." I laughed. "Come, let me show you something."

We went down to the river where my warbird was waiting. Roach gasped and pressed his face to the windows as we rose into the sky. After some miles, we descended and he caught what I gathered was his first glimpse of our new Nexus.

"This used to be one of the filthiest cities in Creation. As you can see, my friends and I have done a little… renovating." I explained, gesturing to the Yellow River dam. It was a phenomenal feat of engineering by any standards, and had even turned heads when it was originally built in the First Age.

I knew exactly where I needed to take Roach, the place where the pattern spiders could most easily find him. We went directly to the Temple of the Unconquered Sun. The priests and priestesses quietly slipped outside as I took my old friend in, giving us a private moment.

As I had hoped he might, Roach seemed to recognize the place we'd come to. Without hesitation he walked up to the statue of the Unconquered Sun and touched its pedestal.

"I was born and raised in a place just like this. An old temple in the far south. My mother was a priestess. A heretic. One day, the Wyld Hunt came for us. I ran as far as I could… I was so sure they would kill me when they found me. But Sesus Calil, he didn't think it was right. I was too young, only ten years old. He must have figured that I could still be taught, so he packed me up with his baggage and that's how I joined up with The Ravenous Winds. I was starving and needed a place to stay. Maybe I thought that if I could find the people who'd killed my mother… maybe I thought I could get revenge? Gave up on that a long time ago." He paused. "You know, I've always felt like there was something missing in my life. Like my mind was a book, and for some reason… half of the pages were blank."

I nodded, smiling slightly.

"I don't know why I'm telling you all this." Roach admitted. "Can I stay here for a while?"

"I was going to ask you if you'd consider it. But you must understand… Nexus is not a very good place to lie low. We've got enemies in the Underworld, in Yu-Shan, on the edges of Creation… not to mention every last claimant for the Scarlet Throne. There's no stability in the Realm anymore, but the Dragonbloods will fight us down to the last man before they'll admit that we're right, that this was the way things were always meant to be. But yes, you can stay. The New Deliberative can use all the help it can get."

Roach shook his head. "No, I mean right here – can I stay here, in this temple? I need a minute to think."

"Take all the time you need. When you're ready to talk some more, I'll be downstairs." I nodded, slowly turning towards the doors.

"Wait, _Loren_!" He shouted.

I blinked in surprise. There was no way Roach could have guessed my real name. Everyone in Nexus, with the except of my Circlemates, knew me only as Alexander Faeslayer.

"Loren!" He gritted his teeth and clutched his head. "Ah! What's happening to me?"

"I think the spiders must have found your thread!" I exclaimed.

"Spiders?"

"The spiders work in Yu Shan and they control F_ate_. They've been looking for your thread – the thread of _your_life since we... well, we made them a very big mess! And if they've finally found your thread, they're going to untangle it! Quill said that would _never_ happen! He said that you'd be dead before they ever got to you! Oh, I love it when he's wrong!"

"Quill? Loren, Quill's The Emissary!" He shook me furiously, as if that piece of news was something he'd meant to tell me for a very long time.

"Oh, I know!" I nodded.

"How?" Roach demanded.

"He tried to kill all of us, remember?" I reminded him.

"When? We're… we're still in the temple? Where's The Well? Did I pass out?" He paused, evaluating his lamellar. "What am I wearing? Forget that, what are _you_wearing?" He stared at my ornate blue and gold robes, the working attire of a Celestial Circle Sorcerer in disbelief.

"It's complicated, Roach. First things first… it's been more than twelve months."

"A whole year?" He stared at me in disbelief. "Boss, did you hit your head or something?" He raised an eyebrow in my direction. "Gaah. Did I hit _my_ head? The last thing I remember, I…"

"What _is_ the last thing you remember?"

"Everybody was hugging me. And it hurt, because my ribs were broken. And…"

"Roach?"

A single tear trickled down his cheek. Roach collapsed to his knees and stared up at the statue of The Unconquered Sun. I didn't have to ask what he was remembering. From what I'd experienced with Veritas, Sapphire and Amira, I knew that when the spiders unwound someone's tangeled thread, they _witnessed_ things as they had truly been.

In a sense, the two lives they had lived merged one alongside the other, and they become something like I was - "Loren" and simultaneously "Alexander". Quill seemed to believe that eventually the spiders would put me back into Creation just as The Weeping Maiden had removed me from it... and everything would be right again.

But of all the cruel punishments… I could only imagine how Roach must have felt, seeing himself as the hero he might have been. He stood up slowly and turned in the direction of the doors. I moved to stop him from leaving, but he brushed me away. "I… I'm leaving. I've got to get out of here now."

"No, you're not going anywhere! Roach, if you're remembering _me_, everyone else will be remembering you!" I informed him.

"That's why I have to go." He replied.

"Viper will kill me if you don't go to see her!" I sighed heavily.

"I _can__'__t_see her! I think I'd rather run into almost anyone else! Loren, I wish I didn't know what I know now." He paused, glancing over his shoulder at the statue. "No. That's not true. I'm glad that I remember." He laughed slightly, a harsh sound that seemed like more of a strangled sob. "But do you have any idea how badly I wish I could just jump back into _that__life_? I _can__'__t_! And I'm not going to disappoint you for failing to live up to myself!"

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." I shook my head heavily. "I was the one who took the vortex when I shouldn't have. I made a mess of everything."

"It's okay." Roach paused. "I… I was Exalted for all of ten minutes. I can get over it. Might even make me a better person, knowing that. But I have to get out of here."

"And just _where_ do you think _you__'__re_ going?" A voice boomed.

I turned slowly and stared. Standing directly behind us where his statue had been only moments before was The Unconquered Sun.

Roach didn't seem as surprised as I was to see the God _in__person_, which led me to wonder what I'd missed when I was lying on the ground barely conscious and _he_ was making short work of The Shoat's horrible "Sister". They say that all Zenith Caste Solars receive a vision from the Unconquered Sun when they Exalt, but I'd never expected it to be quite so literal.

The God glanced briefly in my direction, a good-natured grin on his face. And then he saw Roach, who stood wringing his hands and looking painfully distraught.

"Oh, for the love of… How many times do I have to Exalt you?" The Unconquered Sun groaned. "Do you realize that I'm missing my turn in The Games! What a mess, what a damned mess this is! Lytek!" He shouted to the sky. "I want _everything_ fixed! Right _now_!"

The Temple exploded with light. I dunked behind the altar and shielded my head, not sure what was happening. When the smoke finally cleared, the Unconquered Sun was gone, part of the ceiling had collapsed and Roach was lying on the floor in the middle of an enormous scorch mark.

Roach sat up slowly, coughing. "So… what was it that you were saying before? That… this is the way things were always meant to be?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"Well, maybe not _yet_." I laughed. There was black dust all over his face except for one perfectly round spot between his eyes, which was faintly flickering. "But they're getting there!"


End file.
